Stinging creatures of nature have a legendary affinity for me. Oh, I can swap war stories about jellyfish and stonefish and even sea wasps and not meet my match, but I have yet to meet anyone who can come close to the story of The Tree. After a pleasant tour of the island of Tortola in the British Virgin Island, we returned to our hotel to discover that I had a not so pleasant, slightly bubbly looking rash on my leg underneath my pants. So foreign and frightening was this rash that I swallowed my pride and showed it to the hotel owner. She only gave it a cursory glance, and knowingly asked if I had been sitting under any trees during our exploration. It was clear that I had violated some unspoken island tree rule and the nasty rash was badge of dishonor. The hotel owner offered me only two more words of warning: Manchineel Tree.
The manchineel tree is located along the shoreline of many Caribbean Islands with a lovely yellow fruit and welcoming shady branches. Do not be fooled! Every part of this tree is poisonous. Contact with the sap can cause temporary blindness and eating the fruit is fatal. Native peoples even used the sap to poison the tips of their arrows. So, caustic is the sap of this tree that even if a rain drips from the tree and onto your clothing you will experience a reaction. Kinda makes you think differently about a picnic at the beach.
Man, you and my friend Sarah need to get together and swap war stories. She wrote an article called Masochistic Traveler back in grad school. No matter what horror occurred to her, she just got back on the horse and went on another trip. Glad to see you are doing the same.
Wow, I would be terrified of this tree!! Who knew plantlife could be so dangerous!
I think you win! I've been bitten and stungy by bizarre, benign things when no one else has, not to mention that whole sore jaw for a year after eating a baguette … but a tree with caustic sap beats any of my stories. Ouch
Yikes! Thank goodness the kids didn't get exposed to it! What was the treatment for your rash and how long did it take to go away?
We treated it with burn cream, as it was very much like a third degree burn and it lasted about a week. Yuck!
That sounds like something that would happen to us – we count any trip that doesn't involve a visit to the doctor as a resounding success!
Good gosh, I hope every single one of these monsters has a big sign on it!
um…yikes!!! i think i will stay away from the area all together!
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I unwittingly cut down a Manchineel tree without even a second thought. About an hour later I wiped my hand across my eye and was instantly in pain. A burn that would not stop. After a sleepless night I went to the local GP and she gave me some drops which gave me no relief at all. After enduring another 8hrs of pain weeping eyes and diminishing sight I decided to see a specialist and he was able to numb the pain and give me another cream. It was not until the next day when I noticed all of my forearms were breaking out with a rash this is when I put 2 and 2 together and realized what had happened.. After 5 days of treatment the sight in my eye is improving I would say about 70%. The rash still looks ugly but has been improving with regular aloe applications. This is one nasty tree and I would avoid all contact.