5 Evil Plants We Should Probably Get Rid Of

The Gympie-Gympie is a poisonous tree from Australia, even if it's named like a Legend Of Zelda enemy. Try to picture a shrubbery made out of syringes filled with acid and mace, and you'll more or less have a Gympie-Gympie.

Technically more of a shrub than a tree, the Gympie-Gympie's foliage is covered in tiny hairs which, upon contact with human skin, deliver a sting that can remain blindingly painful for up to several months -- or, if you're unlucky, over a year. One scientist (who was wearing welding gloves when she got stung) compared the sensation to "being burnt with hot acid and electrocuted at the same time." So not only is this the most painful tree known to man, it's also the kinkiest.

There's lots of folklore centered around the Gympie-Gympie, such as horses jumping off cliffs because of the pain the plant inflicted on them. There's even a story of a World War II officer committing suicide after mistakenly using the tree's leaves as toilet paper -- which sounded kind of funny at first, but became more and more terrifying the longer we thought about it. Don't make our mistake.

Officially dubbed the "most dangerous tree" by Guinness World Records, the slightest bit of contact with manchineel's sap leaves its victims covered in blisters, and can even render one blind if it gets in their eyes. And that's just the sap. It's delicious-looking, tiny apple-like fruits can cause excruciatingly painful oral swelling, enlargement of the lymph nodes, bleeding in the throat, problems with breathing, and even death.

In addition, standing underneath the tree while it's raining can be enough to make you break out in blisters. And if you try to burn it, the tree will produce toxic smoke that causes blindness.

It's little wonder that some Native American tribes allegedly used to tie people to this tree as a form of torture. There are even accounts that Ponce de Leon was killed by an arrow poisoned with the sap of a manchineel while searching for the Fountain of Youth. In conclusion, this plant could not be a bigger "Fuck you" to humans even if it literally grew into the shape of a giant hand with an extended middle finger.

A native of South America, Puya chilensis is a plant that grows up to 10 feet and feeds on the flesh of animals, which probably means that it's a big Venus flytrap that occasionally snatches a mouse or something, right? Nope! The Puya is basically a real-life version of the carnivorous monster plant from Little Shop Of Horrors. Only it's way more horrifying, because unlike Audrey II, this mean green mother from Chile is patient.

See, the Puya plants have a mini grove of leaves with sharp spines at their base, which have been known to trap small animals, like birds or rodents. And once they are entangled in the organic barbwire, there is no getting out of it. The trapped animal will remain at the foot of the Puya, slowly dying of thirst and hunger, until it finally croaks and starts decomposing. Then, the flower will absorb all of the nutrients that seeped into the ground, like Clive Barker's fertilizer.

There are even tales of the Puya trapping sheep, whose wool gets so easily entangled in the plant's spiky spines. Whether that's true or not remains to be confirmed (if so, no one has apparently ever photographed it), but it does sound plausible enough for us to call The Royal Horticultural Society a bunch of idiots (sorry, "wankers") for introducing a Puya chilensis to a glasshouse in England. Animal rights groups can relax, though; the plant is being fed a liquid fertilizer which should keep its carnivorous appetite at bay ... for the time being.

Here's why you should be very scared right now: The Equisetum plants (horsetails) reproduce by giving birth to tiny spores with legs (or "elaters," if you want to get technical.) Once released, the spores' legs begin to curl and uncurl when the moisture levels change, allowing them to walk on the goddamn ground.

Oh, and the spider spores can also jump. No one knows why, exactly (probably to murder), but one explanation is that they do it to catch the wind and spread to other, more fruitful areas. And by "fruitful areas," we mean our brains (probably).

But that isn't the only explanation; it's just the only one that's a little bit beyond a wild guess. And that's the scariest part about these microscopic devils: No one knows why they have legs, how they learned to jump and walk, and what purpose those bone-like legs really serve. We know nothing. And in the future, when all that's left is the scorched Earth and the horsetail plants growing out of human skeletons littering the post-apocalyptic landscape, we'll know. But by then, it will be way too late.

Matthew Moffitt has a science fiction novel coming out in November for EDGE science fiction and fantasy. Follow him on Twitter for more info. Shannon Dell is a travel writer. Follow her at www.thestrangeandnew.com.

For more reasons it's time to arm ourselves for the oncoming war with Mother Nature, check out 5 Bizarre Ways The Weather Can Kill You Without Warning and The 5 Most Humiliating Ways The Wilderness Can Kill You.

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