How strong is the toxicity of the antiaris tree? This tree is known as the most poisonous tree
The antiaris tree is a national third-class protected plant, also known as the arrow poison tree. It is a highly toxic and medicinal plant in the genus Antiaris of the mulberry family (Moraceae), with milky white sap, gray bark, and flowers in spring. Its toxicity is relatively high. During cultivation, cutting the branches should be avoided as much as possible, and corresponding protection should be taken before pruning. Now let us take a look at how strong the toxicity of the antiaris tree is!
How strong is the toxicity of the antiaris tree?
The antiaris tree is the most poisonous tree in the world. Its milky white sap contains highly toxic substances. Once it comes into contact with a wound on a human or animal, it can cause heart paralysis, blood vessel closure, and blood coagulation in the poisoned person, leading to death by suffocation. In Xishuangbanna, there is a folk saying about this called “seven up, eight down, nine falls to the ground.” The symptoms of poisoning in animals are similar to those in humans, and death occurs within 20 minutes to 2 hours after poisoning. The median lethal dose of the ethanol extract of the sap injected into the lymph sac of frogs is 0.8 mg/kg. A moderate dose can cause nausea and vomiting in dogs, while a large dose accelerates their heart rate and causes ventricular fibrillation.
What is used to treat antiaris poisoning?
The antiaris tree is extremely poisonous, and only red-backed bamboo-pole grass can neutralize this poison. Red-backed bamboo-pole grass is also known as jiadu tree, jiabu, scissors tree, etc. Its leaves are red and green, and the plant is slender. It grows in the tropical rainforest of Xishuangbanna, Yunnan, China, and is the only antidote to the world's most poisonous plant (the antiaris tree). It mostly grows around the arrow poison tree, is shaped like a small grass, and only a few elderly Yi people can identify it.
What are the common highly toxic plants?
1. Gelsemium: Gelsemium is the plant Gelsemium elegans of the Loganiaceae family, an annual vine. Its main toxic substance is gelsemine, and the most famous one is Gelsemium elegans of the genus Gelsemium in the Loganiaceae family. The root of Gelsemium elegans contains gelsemine A, B, C, D, E, etc., and has a slight fragrance when it leaves the soil, but smelling it too much can cause dizziness. The leaves contain gelsemine A, G, etc. Among them, gelsemine B has the highest content, while gelsemine E is the most toxic.
2. Thunder god vine: Thunder god vine is a wild plant of the Celastraceae family. The root bark, stems, leaves, flowers, and young buds are all toxic. Its toxic components are mainly five alkaloids such as tripterygine, as well as dulcitol and tripterine red, etc. The leaves and roots are used medicinally, and excessive consumption can cause acute poisoning. The lethal dose for internal poisoning is 7 young buds and 30-60 grams of root bark.
3. Oleander: Oleander is one of the most poisonous plants and contains multiple toxins, some of which are even fatal. There have been reports of small amounts causing death or near death. The entire plant, including its sap, is toxic, and other parts also have adverse effects. The toxicity remains even after drying, and the smoke produced by burning oleander is also highly toxic. Even a little or 10-20 leaves can cause adverse effects in adults, and a single leaf can kill an infant. For animals, the lethal dose is as low as 0.5 mg per kilogram of body weight, and most animals have adverse or fatal reactions to oleander.
4. Antiaris tree: The antiaris tree is the most poisonous tree in the world and is often mixed with strychnine as an arrow poison medicine. The sap enters the body through a wound and causes poisoning. The main symptoms include muscle relaxation and slowed heartbeat, and finally the heartbeat stops and death occurs. The symptoms of poisoning in animals are similar to those in humans, and death occurs within 20 minutes to 2 hours after poisoning. Only red-backed bamboo-pole grass can neutralize this poison.
5. Datura: The whole datura plant is toxic, with the fruit and especially the seeds being the most toxic, followed by the young leaves, and the toxicity of dried leaves is less than that of fresh leaves. Datura poisoning generally shows symptoms half an hour after ingestion, as quickly as 20 minutes, and no later than 3 hours. The symptoms mostly disappear or basically disappear within 24 hours. In severe cases, after 24 h the person enters drowsiness, convulsions, and cyanosis, and finally dies in a coma.
6. Nux vomica: Nux vomica is the seed of Strychnos nux-vomica and Strychnos wallichiana of the Loganiaceae family. If accidentally eaten, poisoning initially causes headache, dizziness, irritability, increased respiration, a feeling of muscle cramps, difficulty swallowing, aggravated breathing, constricted pupils, chest tightness, labored breathing, and general tightness of the body, then the extensor and flexor muscles contract extremely at the same time, with excessive sensitivity to hearing, vision, taste, and sensation, followed by typical strychnine convulsion symptoms, and finally death by suffocation due to rigidity of the respiratory muscles.
7. Foxglove: The whole foxglove plant is toxic and is an important cardiotonic medicine. It can stimulate the heart muscle, strengthen myocardial contractility, improve blood circulation, or directly inhibit the intracardiac conduction system. Because the distance between the therapeutic dose and the toxic dose of foxglove-type drugs is very small (it is generally considered that the therapeutic dose is about 60% of the toxic dose and 10-20% of the lethal dose), poisoning is very easy to occur. The whole plant is toxic and is used medicinally for its cardiotonic effect.
8. Aconite: Aconite is a plant of the genus Aconitum in the Ranunculaceae family. Poisoning is mostly related to overdose, raw use, improper compatibility, or use with alcohol. The symptoms include numbness of the mouth and tongue, limbs, and the whole body, dizziness, tinnitus, unclear speech, palpitations and shortness of breath, pale complexion, cold limbs, abdominal pain and diarrhea, etc. It can be treated with Chinese herbal medicine honey taken with water to neutralize the poison, or by drinking mung bean soup.