In 1941, an American soldier went to the toilet in the jungle after eating a bad stomach, picked a few leaves to wipe his butt, but when he went back, he shot himself. Why is that?
The reason for this has to start with those few leaves.
Why are these leaves so magical that a warrior who experienced the rainforest of World War II committed suicide? It turns out that this thorny heart-shaped leaf is the leaf of the goldbark tree.
Speaking of goldbark trees is like talking about tiger color change. The goldbark tree ranks first among the world's top ten poisonous trees, second in the top ten dangerous trees, and sixth in the ten cancer trees, mainly in northeast Australia, the Moluccas, and Indonesia.
During World War II, European and American countries were good at developing various war weapons, including nuclear weapons, biological and chemical weapons, etc.
After the British authorities knew the power of the goldbark tree, they wanted to extract harmful components from the goldbark tree to make biochemical weapons, but because a goldbark tree could extract a small amount of venom, the extraction cost was high, and the danger factor was large, they gave up.
When was the goldbark tree discovered to be highly poisonous?
In 1866, a geological surveyor in Australia worked as usual, riding a horse through the jungle while surveying the geology and registering tree species.
Once his horse accidentally touched the leaves of the goldbark tree, immediately lost control and threw him to the ground heavily, and the horse immediately foamed at the mouth and fell to the ground.
Since then, the goldbark tree has become highly toxic and gradually recognized, but not many people know about it. Many people almost lost their lives because they didn't know the bark tree.
Marina Hurley, an entomologist in Australia who often collects insect samples in the wild, once came to the Atherton Highlands rainforest in Queensland in search of insects.
As a frequent visitor to the deep forest, she began her day fully armed, wearing a gas mask and professional gloves, as well as the necessary insect repellent and disinfectant.
When she was about to finish work, she was accidentally scratched by the branch of the goldbark tree and scratched her thigh, a tingling and burning pain immediately rushed to her heart, she immediately took out the disinfectant to briefly treat the wound and returned to the city for medical treatment, and stayed in the hospital for 2 weeks before being discharged.
In 1964, the same American soldier, while passing through the Australian rainforest, accidentally hit a tree more than 1 meter high, and after a while, the pain was unbearable, like the burning pain of sulfuric acid, and like the pain of electric shock, and the whole person almost fainted.
After emergency rescue, he finally saved his life, fortunately with the 24-hour supervision of his colleagues, he did not seek short-sightedness like the soldier who committed suicide because he poisoned goldbark leaves as tissue.
The soldier was killed, but recurred twice in the following years, and this goldbark tree venom poisoning could not be cured.
If you want to avoid being accidentally injured by the goldbark tree, let's get to know the goldbark tree together.
The goldenbark tree, a tree belonging to the genus of hemp trees in the family Hemp family, is 1-2 meters tall, abundant in northeastern Australia, the Moluccas, and the Indian Missia, and is recognized as one of the most poisonous tree species in the world.
Goldbark trees have a straight trunk, pink or purple fruits, heart-shaped leaves. Its whole body is covered with small burrs like needle tips. As soon as the breeze blows, small burrs float around, forming a danger zone within 4-5 meters.
If someone enters by mistake, inhales dust with small thorns, or is lightly scratched by its leaves or branches, the venom of the goldbark tree successfully enters the human body, and if not treated in time, it will faint at light and die at worst.
What other plants in the world are poisonous besides the goldbark tree? Poison wood, oleander, and pitcher plants are in the forefront.
Poison wood, also known as blood sealing throat, is a national three-level protected plant, is a highly toxic and medicinal plant, 25-40 meters high, gray bark, rich in slender and flexible fibers, blooming in spring, mainly distributed in tropical monsoon forests at an altitude of 1500 meters.
After cutting the bark, white sap will flow out, this white sap is a highly toxic, can blind the eyes of humans and animals, paralyze the heart, blood coagulation, suffocation and death, so the name "see blood to seal the throat", the ancients used dart poison wood poison juice to apply to arrowheads, used for hunting and fighting.
Oleander is one of the most toxic plants in the world, is an evergreen shrub, blooming dark red or pink flower bulbs all year round, cuttings can grow, because of its convenient planting conditions, easy to live, large, gorgeous, long flowering period, often used as a green belt ornamental flowers.
However, the flowers, leaves and fruits of oleander are highly toxic, and if ingested in small amounts, it can cause dizziness, vomiting, and even cardiac arrest and death.
Nepenthes giant is a carnivorous plant up to 30 cm in diameter that can catch some rodents like mice, but it mainly feeds on insects, which can secrete a nectar-like substance to lure insects into the "pig cage", quickly cover the lid, secrete strong acid and alkali, gradually kill small animals, and obtain nutrients from decaying carcasses.
The American soldier mentioned earlier, just wiped his butt with a few leaves of the goldbark tree after untying his hands, and shot himself after returning, because he ingested the poison contained in the leaves of the goldbark tree, and he was really painful, so he committed suicide.
Author: Big Fish
Editor: Lan Jiajia
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