# What's the deadliest plant or tree?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deadliest-plant-or-tree/310461>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 30, 2005, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deadliest-plant-or-tree/310461 "2005-06-30T02:39:27Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![ageless6](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de053/32.png) [@ageless6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ageless6)\
**Post date:** [June 30, 2005, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deadliest-plant-or-tree/310461/21 "2005-06-30T08:54:53Z")

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> [@ageless6](#):
>
> Can you pot these things? I live next door to some burglars who have been stealing everyone blind in the complex. I’d like to put one next to my front and balcony door so I can go on vacation (free and paid round trip) without worrying about them.  
> And don’t forget about the KILLER TOMATOES!

And of course I forgot:

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**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\
**Post date:** [June 30, 2005, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deadliest-plant-or-tree/310461/22 "2005-06-30T17:18:38Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> And don’t forget about the KILLER TOMATOES!

Not too farfetched actually, being related to deadly nightshade.

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**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\
**Post date:** [June 30, 2005, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deadliest-plant-or-tree/310461/23 "2005-06-30T17:28:04Z")

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Of course, the Giant Stinging Tree doesn’t hold a candle to the [Upas Tree.](http://www.godecookery.com/mythical/mythic02.htm)

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**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\
**Post date:** [June 30, 2005, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deadliest-plant-or-tree/310461/24 "2005-06-30T17:28:59Z")

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well, there’s the **Upas Tree** :

[http://www.godecookery.com/mythical/mythic02.htm](http://www.godecookery.com/mythical/mythic02.htm)

And the **Man-Eating Tree** :

> **[Man-eating tree](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man-eating_tree)**
>
> Man-eating tree can refer to any of the various legendary carnivorous plants large enough to kill and consume a person or other large animal.
> The earliest known report of a man-eating tree originated as a literary fabrication written by Edmund Spencer for the New York World. Spencer's article first appeared in the daily edition of the New York World on 26 April 1874, and appeared again in the weekly edition of the newspaper two days later. In the article, a letter was published by a purported G...

(Willy Ley wrote a great essay about this. It’s in, among other collections, **Willy Ley’s Exotic Zoology** , even though it’s a plant.)  
Of course, these don’t exist. Fun anyway.

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