世界上10種毒性最強的植物(上)

In the mid-1800s, the story of a man-eating tree captured widespread attention. In a report he wrote for the South Australian Register, Carl Liche, a German explorer, claimed that while exploring Madagascar, he'd witnessed a woman climb the trunk of a large plant and drink its nectar. When the plant sensed her presence, it captured her with its tentacles and pulled her into its body.

19世紀中期，食人樹的故事人盡皆知。卡爾·利歇一位德國探險家，他在寫給《南澳大利亞記事報》的一篇報道里稱，他在馬達加斯加島探險的時候，看見一個婦女爬上一種大型植物的主幹去喝它的汁液。當這株植物感覺到她之後，卻用觸手一樣的東西抓住了她，然後把她拽進了自己的軀體。

One hundred years later, a 1950s science writer debunked the legend, asserting that not only was there no such tree, but that no one by name of Carl Liche had ever explored Madagascar. While a tentacle-wielding, man-consuming tree may not exist, a scaled-down version of such a plant does. The man-eating tree of Madagascar may have been an exaggeration of the pitcher plants that grow in Madagascar, Indonesia, Australia, Malaysia and other hot and humid, low-lying areas. The largest of the pitcher plants is known as Nepenthes, and this plant does capture small vermin and lizards in its pitchers (or cupped leaves). The pitcher plant creates a substance that coats the inside of its pitchers. This substance mixes with water that the plant draws up through its roots. Insects and, on occasion, small animals are attracted to the scented water. When they come to drink, they fall into the pitcher, are unable to escape, and the plant draws nutrients from the captured prey. While you certainly won't fall prey to the pitchers of the Nepenthes -- they're entirely too small to hold a human -- you could easily fall prey to the sickness some plants induce. In fact, the following 10 could actually kill you.

在一百年之後的20世紀50年代，一位科普作家拆穿了這個傳奇，認爲不僅不存在這樣的樹，而且沒有一個叫卡爾·利歇的人到過馬達加斯加探險。雖然也許沒有用觸手捉人吃的樹，但卻存在縮小版的這類植物。瓶子草類生長在馬達加斯加、印度尼西亞、澳大利亞、馬來西亞，以及其他炎熱、潮溼、低窪的地區，馬達加斯加的食人樹可能就是這些瓶子草類被誇大的產物。豬籠草是最大的瓶子草，這種植物能用自己的瓶狀葉（或者杯狀葉子）捉住蜥蜴和小型鳥獸。瓶子草會在瓶狀葉內表面產生一種物質，與植物根部吸收來的水分混合在一起。昆蟲，偶爾還有些小動物，就被這種帶有香味的物質吸引了。他們過來喝這些汁液時，就會掉進瓶狀葉裏，而且逃不掉，植物便從自己捕獲的獵物獲取養分。雖然你不可能成爲豬籠草的獵物——它們太小，裝不下一個人——但你一不小心就會受到某些植物的傷害。事實上，下面這10種植物能將你置於死地。

hineel

10.毒番石榴

Would you believe that there's a tree so poisonous that you don't actually have to touch it to be harmed? It's called the manchineel tree (Hippomane mancinella), found throughout the Florida Everglades, Central America and the Caribbean. Inhaling sawdust or smoke from the 30-foot (9.1-meter) tall tree may result in a variety of uncomfortable side effects, including coughing, laryngitis and bronchitis. Some reports suggest that simply standing beneath the tree during a rainstorm and being splashed by runoff may result in rashes and itching. Your car isn't even safe from this toxic tree: Park under its low branches, and dripping sap can seriously damage the paint.

有一種植物毒性很大，即使你沒有觸碰到它也會受到傷害，你相信嗎?這種植物就是毒番石榴樹，廣佈於佛羅里達州埃弗格來茲沼澤地、中美洲和加勒比地區。這種樹高達30英尺（9.1米），人們吸入伐樹時產生的鋸末或者木灰會產生很多不舒服的症狀，包括咳嗽、喉炎和支氣管炎。有報道稱，下暴雨時站在這種樹下、淋了樹上滴落的水，皮膚會起疹、發癢。汽車甚至也會深受其害：停在低矮的枝丫下面，樹木滴落的汁液會嚴重損壞油漆塗層。

Direct contact with the manchineel tree is far more hazardous. Its milky sap can squirt from the tree when twigs are snapped off, painfully irritating the skin and eyes. Ingestion of the deceptively sweet, crabapple-like fruits is known to blister the mouth and cause the throat to swell shut, then inflict severe gastrointestinal problems. These harmful effects result from the toxin hippomane A and B, which are present in every part of the tree. The manchineel tree sometimes grows near the beach, giving it another of its common names, "beach apple." Hapless tourists vacationing on the warm coasts of Central America and the Caribbean often encounter its poisonous boughs with unfortunate consequences. So if you're heading to that region's beach resorts, make sure to avoid the manchineel tree or else your dream vacation could turn into a nightmare.

直接觸碰毒番石榴更有危險。折斷樹枝時會有乳白的汁液噴出，會讓皮膚和眼睛感到疼痛。其果實長得像野蘋果，看起來好吃，誤食會導致嘴巴起泡，咽喉緊閉，隨後會引起嚴重的腸胃問題。這些危害來自A和B兩種毒番石榴毒素，它們存在於這種植物的各個部位。毒番石榴有時候長在海岸邊，因此它還有一個名字——“海灘蘋果樹”。到氣候溫暖的中美洲和加勒比海沿岸度假的無辜遊客，常常會遭遇其毒枝危害，結果不堪設想。如果你要去這些地方的度假區，確保遠離毒番石榴，否則期待的假期可能變成一場噩夢。

onweed

9.曼陀羅

With pointy leaves and spiky fruit, jimsonweed (Datura stramonium) definitely looks the part of a poisonous plant. Its toothed foliage emits an unpleasant odor and branches from reddish-purple stalks, which grow to a height of 3 to 4 feet (0.9 to 1.2 meters). The plant's fruit is particularly wicked-looking. The green spheres, measuring about 2 inches (5 centimeters) across, are covered with long, sharp spines. Even the nectar and petals of its beautiful white or lavender trumpet-shaped flowers are dangerous. They, like the rest of the plant, are tainted with the toxins atropine and scopolamine.

曼陀羅的葉子和果實都長得很尖，看起來毒性很大。葉子邊緣的鋸齒會釋放一種難聞的氣味，枝葉茂盛；主幹呈醬色，能長到3~4英尺（0.9~1.2米）高。這種植物的果實看起來很怪異。綠色的球體，直徑約2英寸（5釐米），滿身又長又尖的針葉。曼陀羅開白色或紫色的喇叭狀花朵，雖然十分漂亮，但花蜜和花瓣與其他部位一樣很危險，都含有阿托品和車莨菪鹼這兩種毒素。

European settlers in the New World quickly discovered the potency of jimsonweed, which grows throughout Canada, the United States and the Caribbean. The plant was plentiful at Jamestown, where some colonists made the mistake of having it for dinner as early as 1607. They would have experienced horrific symptoms, including dilated pupils, racing heartbeat, hallucination, delirium, aggressive behavior and possibly coma or seizures. The plant has been linked to darker arts, like witchcraft and voodoo, because of its delirium-inducing and hallucinogenic properties. For most people, though, jimsonweed is a dangerously poisonous plant that's best avoided completely.

從歐洲來到美洲新世界的移民很快發現了曼陀羅的性狀，它們遍佈加拿大、美國和加勒比地區。詹姆斯敦有很多這種植物，早在1607年，就有殖民者誤把曼陀羅當作食物吃了。他們出現了恐怖的症狀：瞳孔放大、心跳加速、幻聽幻視、精神錯亂、爭強好勝，還可能昏迷或者痙攣。人們常常把這種植物與邪惡力量聯繫起來，比如巫術或者伏都教，因爲它有致人精神錯亂和出現幻覺的特性。然而對大部分人而言，曼陀羅是非常危險的有毒植物，最好避免接觸。

ite

8.烏頭草

Aconite (Aconitum napellus) is commonly referred to as monkshood because the top of the flower resembles the monastic head covering. But there's nothing holy about this plant. A perennial, it stands 2 to 6 feet (0.6 to 1.8 meters) tall and produces blue, white or flesh-colored bunches of flowers at the tops of its stalks. Every part of the aconite plant is laced with the toxin aconitine, making it dangerous to consume or even touch.

烏頭草（學名爲Aconitum napellus），因其花頂狀似修女的頭罩，通常被稱爲舟形烏頭。不過這花與“神聖”可沒什麼關係。這是一種多年生草本植物，高達2~6英尺（0.6~1.8米），其莖部會長出一朵朵藍色、白色，或肉色的花。烏頭草的各個部位都含有毒性烏頭鹼，甚至只要觸碰到它都會有危險。

Poisonings from aconite are rare but typically occur when gardeners or backpackers mistake its white carrot-like root for horseradish or some other edible herb. Consuming the plant causes burning in the mouth followed by increased salivation, vomiting, diarrhea, a tingling sensation in the skin, blood pressure and heart irregularities, coma and sometimes death. Just touching aconite can cause tingling, numbness, and in severe cases, heart problems. People have used aconite in the past to intentionally harm people or animals. Nazi scientists used the plant's toxin to poison bullets, while shepherds in ancient Greece laced bait and arrows with aconite to kill wolves that preyed on their stock. From this latter use came another common name, "wolfsbane." Fans of the Harry Potter series will recognize this as the plant Professor Snape brews to help Remus Lupin turn into a werewolf.

一般人很少會因爲烏頭草中毒，但如果有園丁或者揹包客把烏頭草類似於白蘿蔔的根誤認爲是山葵的根，或是其他食用植物根，就很難避免中毒的情況了。誤食烏頭草會導致口腔內部產生灼燒感，隨之而來的是流涎、嘔吐、腹瀉、皮膚刺痛、血壓和心率失常等症狀，重則會導致昏迷甚至死亡。如果是觸碰到烏頭草，則可能導致四肢麻木、產生特異性刺痛感，情況嚴重的話甚至會引發心臟問題。過去人們經常使用烏頭草來對付那些會傷害到人類的動物。納粹科學家曾利用烏頭草製造帶毒的子彈，而古希臘的牧羊人也早已學會在箭上塗抹烏頭草的毒，用以和誘餌配合，抵禦獵殺羊羣的狼，烏頭草的另一個常見稱號“狼毒”即由此得來。《哈利·波特》系列的粉絲們就會知道，烏頭草就是斯內普教授在盧平變身爲狼人之時，用來保護哈利等人的植物。

e Snakeroot

7.白蛇根草

Most people know that John Wilkes Booth assassinated Abraham Lincoln, but did you know that a plant killed the president's mother? The culprit: white snakeroot (Eupatorium rugosum), a shade-loving weed native to the forests of the eastern and southern United States. This shrubby plant grows to a height of 18 to 60 inches (46 to 152 centimeters) and boasts leaves that are serrated around the edges. Its flowers, which emerge from the ends of the branches in late summer, are small and grow in white clusters. Don't let these beautiful blooms fool you, though; the plant contains high levels of tremetol, a powerful toxin.

很多人都知道是約翰·威爾克斯·布斯刺殺了美國總統亞拉伯罕·林肯，那麼又有多少人知道總統的母親是被植物殺害的呢？罪魁禍首就是：白蛇根草（學名爲Eupatorium rugosum）——一種喜陰類植物，生長於美國東部和南部的森林中。此灌木植物高可達18~60英尺（相當於46~152釐米），葉子邊緣呈鋸齒狀。夏末時，白蛇根草的花就會盛放於枝幹末端，一簇簇小小的白色花朵競相開放。不過你千萬別被這些綻放的花朵給騙了，此植物含有一種劇毒——白蛇根毒素。

White snakeroot causes "milk sickness," a condition that afflicts people who consume milk or meat from a cow that has grazed on the highly poisonous plant. (Snakeroot is also poisonous to the cow.) Those affected can experience a variety of symptoms, including bad breath, loss of appetite, listlessness, weakness, vague pains, muscle stiffness, vomiting, abdominal discomfort, severe constipation, coma and possibly death. Milk sickness was common until the 1920s when farmers widely recognized white snakeroot as the cause, eradicating the weed from their pastures and fencing them to prevent cows from wandering into the woods to graze. Unfortunately, this discovery came much too late for Lincoln's mother, Nancy, who fought milk sickness for two weeks before passing away on Oct. 5, 1818.

白蛇根草會引發“牛奶病”，人類食用了吃過白蛇根草的奶牛牛肉或其產下的牛奶後，將會遭受“牛奶病”的折磨。（蛇根草的毒性對奶牛同樣具有威脅性。）中毒後會引發各種各樣的症狀，包括呼吸困難、食慾不振、精神萎靡、身體虛弱、有隱約的刺痛感、肌肉僵硬、嘔吐、腹部不適、嚴重便祕、昏迷，甚至死亡。這種“牛奶病”在過去很常見，直到上個世紀20年代，奶農們才廣泛認可了“白蛇根草就是罪魁禍首”這一事實。於是奶農們開始剷除牧場裏的這類野草，並且圍起了柵欄，以防奶牛到樹林裏去吃草時又誤食白蛇根草。然而不幸的是，對於林肯總統的母親南希來說，這一發現來得太晚了。在與“牛奶病”搏鬥了兩週後，南希最終於1818年10月5日與世長辭。

ish Yew

6.英國紫衫

Given the English yew's highly toxic nature, it's fitting that the tree is commonly found growing in church graveyards across Great Britain. Some scholars believe that this tradition started when early Christians incorporated the trees -- which already had spiritual value to the pagans -- into their new religion. Today they stand not as symbols of death, but of the immortality of the soul.

因爲英國紫衫有很高的毒性，所以適合生長在英國各地教堂墓地。一些學者認爲這一傳統在早期基督教徒接納這種樹的時候就開始了——它們對異教徒已經有了精神價值。始於早期基督教納入樹——那些已經擁有精神價值的異教徒進入基督教。現在的紫衫並不是死亡的象徵，反而象徵着不朽的靈魂。

The English yew (Taxus baccata) is an evergreen tree with needlelike leaves and red arils, or fleshy seed-coverings. It grows to a height of 60 to 70 feet (18.3 to 21.3 meters) and is found throughout Great Britain, but is also cultivated in the southern United States. Every part of the tree is toxic due to taxine alkaloids, except for the aril flesh. Consumption of the leaves, and to a lesser extent the seeds, can lead to increasingly serious symptoms, including dizziness, dry mouth, dilation of the pupils, weakness, irregular heart rhythm and possibly death. Despite its harmful qualities, English yew has been used for a variety of productive purposes. Its wood was valued across Europe for bow-making as early as the Neolithic period, which lasted from approximately 7000 B.C. to 2500 B.C. Later, the Anglo-Saxons explored the tree's medicinal qualities, including yew berries in a 10th-century formula for the treatment of "water-elf disease" (probably measles or chicken pox). More recently, researchers have studied the English yew for its potent antitumor qualities. Today, yew extract is used to formulate the drug paclitaxol, or Taxol, which slows the growth of ovarian, breast and lung cancers.

英國紫衫（紅豆杉樹）帶有針葉、紅色假種皮和肉質種子覆蓋物，是常青樹的一種，高一般在60~70英尺（18.3~21.3米）。它的身影遍佈整個英國，也可以在美國南部看到。除了紫衫的果實之外，每個部位因爲含有紫衫生物鹼而都帶有毒性。誤食葉子或者一點點種子，會引起嚴重的症狀，包括頭暈、口乾、瞳孔擴張、虛弱、心律失常，甚至可能死亡。儘管英國紫衫帶有毒性，但是它已經用於各種生產目的。早在新石器時代，歐洲人就用紫衫木來製造弓箭。大約在公元前7000~2500年，安格魯-撒克遜人發現了這種樹的藥用價值，紫衫果可以治療10世紀時期的“水之妖精病”（可能是麻疹和水痘）。最近，研究人員研究了英國紫衫的抗腫瘤特性。現在，紫衫提取物已經被用來制定藥物紫杉醇或紫杉醇。紫杉醇可減緩卵巢癌、乳腺癌和肺癌的增長。

審校：惠月 編輯：listen 來源：前十網