What does a Cerberus flower look like? A beautiful and poisonous family
Cerberus (Cerbera odollam) from the Apocynaceae family is a fairly common plant, whose homeland is India. However, it grows in Vietnam, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, and the tropical islands of the Pacific Ocean. In India, Cerbera odollam is called othalanga maram or kattu arali in Tamil. In the east, its range is limited to French Polynesia.
The plant is a large bush or small tree, the height of which does not exceed ten meters. Cerberus grows on sandy coasts, along the shores of sea bays or rivers; it can be found almost everywhere in saline mangrove swamps.
Beautiful, opposite shiny dark green leaves grow in a lush whorl on rather thin branches. Cerberus leaves feed on the larvae of many Asian butterflies.
Graceful white flowers with a reddish core smell pleasantly of jasmine.
After flowering, a green fruit is formed that resembles a small mango.
As it matures, it turns bright red.
Cerberus fruits dry right on the branches, the dried drupe is 5-10 cm long. When the dried fruits fall to the ground, a thin, outer film flies off, exposing a thick, fibrous, very decorative shell.
Thanks to this fibrous coat, Cerberus fruits are very light, they are easily picked up by ocean currents and transported over long distances, contributing to the spread of the plant in the region.
The fruit itself is in two halves, each of which contains one very poisonous bone.
This plant resembles a plumeria, however, the leaves of the Cerberus are slightly smaller, they are slightly more wavy and have a reddish central vein.
All parts of Cerbera odollam are highly toxic, however, the largest amount of toxin is found in the seed oil.
The seed oil contains the alkaloid cerberine, which is similar in structure to digoxin, the digitalis toxin (foxglove), as well as the glycoside cerberoside. These poisons block the passage of calcium ions in the heart muscle, which causes a gradual slowing down of the heartbeat until it stops completely. Death occurs 3-4 hours after the poison enters the body.
Cerberin is the most active toxin. Moreover, if it was not known about the use of Cerberus by the victims, it is practically impossible to determine the cause of the cardiac arrest.
Considering that this, one of the most potent poisons on earth, is practically unknown to Western doctors, chemists, analysts and forensic scientists, and, moreover, cerberine decomposes very quickly without a trace in the body, and therefore is not determined when determining the causes of death, This makes Cerberus the perfect natural killer.
Recently, when it became possible to conduct research using highly technological methods of chromatography and spectrometry when checking plant samples, scientists have suggested that the number of deaths caused by cerberine poisoning could be much higher than previously thought.
Also, a certain percentage of suicides could well be considered criminal homicides.
In India " perfect killer- Cerberus is used quite often. Since the kernels have a bitter taste, they are usually ground and mixed with the spicy and savory local food.
Traditionally, this method is more often used by Indian women who cannot otherwise resolve their matrimonial or legal problems.
In some Indian states, where the birth of girls in the family is considered undesirable and almost shameful, Cerberus is used to "regulate" the birth of babies of the desired sex. A pregnant woman who has undergone an ultrasound examination, which has determined that she is carrying a girl, is simply killed in a proven way for centuries. Or, after birth, "unnecessary" girls are killed in the same way.
In the countries of Southeast Asia, Cerberus is called pong-pong, buta-buta or nyan. Its oil is successfully used as an insecticide. In Madagascar, for a long time, Cerberus was used as a "divine court" in determining the guilt of a particularly dangerous criminal. Took poison, died - it means guilty! Especially often the verdict of guilt of Cerberus "made" in the trials of witches or conspirators against the royal power. This custom has survived to this day. According to official figures, in 1991, more than six thousand Madagascarians died as a result of this "divine judgment".
Cerbera odollam is named after the mythological Cerberus, the terrible guardian dog of the gates to the realm of the dead. His saliva was so poisonous that it destroyed all living things for several meters around it. Well, the tropical plant bears its name with dignity.
Not so long ago, Cerberus began to be grown in Hawaii as an ornamental plant. If you are careful, it can be successfully bred at home - Cerberus is very decorative.
The plant feels great in a small pot, standing on a windowsill, desk or other place - beautiful foliage and graceful white flowers will decorate your apartment with dignity. But, enjoying the pleasant jasmine scent, you should always remember that before you is the ideal killer from distant India. And behave with him accordingly ..
All figures used in the article from botanical atlases are taken from www.wikipedia.com
Humanity has been using herbs from its daily life for more than 60,000 years - in 1960, a cave burial was found in Iraq, dating back to that distant period of time when Neanderthals lived on the territory of modern Europe and Western Asia. Eight plant species were discovered in this burial, seven of which are still used in modern medicine.
TO general concept"Herbs" usually refers to plants and their individual parts: flowers, leaves, berries, seeds, nuts, stems, trunks, tubers, and roots. They are used in cooking and are used in medicine to obtain medicinal products and fortifying agents. Generations of herbal medicine men, and then research specialists, through trial and error, sometimes risking their own lives, created the science of medicinal herbs and thousands of safe and effective medicines, which are successfully applied in traditional medicine... And oh folk medicine, ethnobotany and all sorts of shamanic tricks do not even have to say, they cannot do without herbs at all.
The great European Renaissance physician Paracelsus (real name Theophrastus Philippus Aureolus Bombastus von Hohenheim) at one time formulated one of the most important pharmacological rules, which has not lost its significance until now: " Everything is poison, it's all about the dosage. Only the amount makes any substance poisonous or non-toxic.".
However, despite the indisputable correctness of this postulate, there have been, are and will be especially dangerous plants, a meeting with which for an unprepared person can become the last event in life .. For example, you just have to drink a cup of tea with the addition of dried leaves or oleander petals or chew on any part of the foxglove - and death will not keep itself waiting too long ..
Paracelsus (1493-1541)
World history poisons and poisonings contains many pages. But our task is just a brief acquaintance with the most significant and well-known poisonous tropical plants, especially since today they are acquiring more and more new meanings, often becoming priceless medicines. Before us will appear a series of gorgeous beauties and modest ugly women, fragrant and foul-smelling representatives of different countries and continents, so different, so strange, so amazing. And all of them are united by one common quality: they are all DEADLY POISONOUS.
1. Poison in tubes, poison in pots
In the distant times of the conquest - the discovery and conquest of the territories of Central and South America by Europeans - a mass of Europeans poured into the American continent. They were warriors and missionaries, scientists and robbers, just adventurers. In search of untold treasures and gold reserves American Indian their great civilization was almost completely destroyed. What they have been looking for for so long, however, have not been found. However, the real treasures that were brought from America to Europe are still used by humanity today. This is corn, and this is a lot and a lot of plant products that we, without hesitation, use in everyday life.
But the Europeans had to face not only new edible plants. Some "acquaintances" inspired real horror: deadly poisons that had no antidote, acting quickly and inevitably, incomprehensible substances, later called hallucinogens, causing clouding of consciousness and visions, driving insane and much, much more ..
One of these terrible openings was the curare poison.
Curare is one of the strongest poisons on earth, which is a plant extract. This poison has been widely used since ancient times by the Indian tribes of South America. Basically, it was used for hunting - it was used to lubricate arrowheads. However, like many poisons, curare was used not only for hunting animals .. The Spanish conquistadors were the first of the white people to experience the effects of this deadly poison, which were used to lubricate the arrows of the Indian tribes resisting their enslavement. And the stories of the mysterious terrible Indian poison caused an almost sacred awe among the white people.
It is believed that the curare was first brought to Europe by an Englishman, Sir Walter Reilly (Sir Walter Raleigh, 1552-1618), who was not only a knight at the court of Queen Elizabeth I of England, but also a famous poet, writer, traveler and discoverer of new lands. It was Reilly who founded the second (after Newfoundland) British colony in today's North Carolina (USA). However, no written evidence of the curar remained after him. The very first records about this poisonous substance were made by a Spanish priest, father d'Acunha and d'Artieda (d "Acunja e d" Artieda), during his visit to the Amazon basin in 1693, and in 1745 by the French scientist Charles Marie de la Condamine (Charles Marie De la Condamin), who headed a scientific expedition to Peru, not only brought to The French Academy sciences, samples of this terrible poison, but also the technology of its manufacture, which he acquired (or rather stolen) from the Indians.
Arrows smeared with curare poison and a blowgun,
from which they were shot by representatives of the tribe
jaguars (Peru)photo: Alison Wright
Indian tribes varied the name of the plant used as raw material for the production of this poison; he was called vurari, vurara, kurari, kurare, kururu, urali, vurali, etc. In addition to the abundance of options for the name of this plant poison, for a long time there was disagreement about which plant is used as raw material for its manufacture. And the Indians themselves - after all, there were many tribes - did sometimes use different kinds plants and their compositions. It was only in 1938 that the American scientist Richard Gill succeeded in clearly identifying the curare plant as a source. Chondodendron tomentosum from the family Menispermaceae.
However, further research made it possible to clarify that the Indians used two types of curare, dividing them both according to the symptoms of death caused by them, and according to the raw materials, and according to the way of storing the prepared extract: in a pot or in a hollow tube - a processed stem of one of the local plants. The pots were mainly used to store poison made from Strychnos toxifera ( family Loganiaceae). In such a poison, the poisonous qualities inherent in all plants of the strychnine family were used. However, the fastest and most potent poison, which had to be stored in special tubes, was made precisely from the leaves and roots of Chondrodendron tomentosum, which grows in abundance throughout the western Amazon.
Chondrodendron tomentosum is a large vine with a stiff stem up to 10 cm in diameter. It has large, alternating heart-shaped 10-20 cm leaves with long pedicels. The upper surface of the leaves is smooth with pronounced veins; on the reverse side, the leaf is covered with whitish hairs. Small greenish-white flowers, gathered in bunches, are male and female. Juicy 1-2 mm fruits, formed on female flowers, have an oval shape, narrowed towards the base.
The classic way the preparation of curare poison involves the extraction of crushed leaves, stems and roots of Chondrodendron tomentosum over low heat, sometimes with the addition of the blood of poisonous animals and reptiles (for example, poisonous frogs). The boiling mass was constantly stirred, bringing it to thickening. The lighter poison, necessary for hunting small animals, was light, and the strongest was a dark brown or black mass of sticky or even almost hard consistency with a distinct resinous smell. This substance was used to lubricate long spines or specially treated sticks, which for hitting the target, forcefully blown out of the blowpipes. The name "curare" comes from the Indian word for poison. Making curare poison was the prerogative of the tribal shaman, violation of this rule was punishable by the immediate death of the offender.
The active alkaloid responsible for the toxic properties of Chondrodendron tomentosum is D-tubocurarine. This alkaloid is an agent that blocks nerve impulses that control muscles. This blockage leads to muscle paralysis: first of all, the fingers on the feet and hands and eyelids stop working, then the nerve endings responsible for vision and hearing are paralyzed, then the paralysis affects the face, neck, arms and legs and, finally, death occurs from respiratory paralysis. ... During agony, inflammation of the liver occurs, and the skin acquires a characteristic bluish tint. For a deadly poison to begin its harmful effects, it is necessary that it gets into the bloodstream. But if you lick your tongue, you will stay alive ..
At the same time, Indian shamans have long learned to use the diuretic properties of curare and gave patients microdoses of curare in medicinal purposes, relieving attacks of violent insanity, and also used it for dropsy, fever, urolithiasis and - externally - in the form of compresses for severe bruises.
Strychnos toxifera - lianas covered with rough brown bark, like many other species of strychnines, are also native to the tropical jungles of South America. It is characterized by paired leaves with very short pedicels, feathering on round pubescent twigs of a rusty brown color. The length of these leathery shiny oblong leaves reaches 7.5 cm. The flowers of strychnine are white and very fragrant; after flowering, the fruit is formed - a yellow berry.
The poison (curare stored in calabash pots) is obtained from the roots and stems of this particular plant. The technology of its preparation, in principle, does not differ from the preparation of curare stored in tubes, made from Chondrodendron tomentosum. The toxic alkaloids of Strychnos toxifera are strychnine and brucine. Strychnine inhibits the action of the enzyme cholinesterase, which results in muscle and respiratory paralysis. Brucin causes a strong heartbeat, which soon reaches critical values, leading to complete cardiac arrest. Such symptoms are observed when toxic substances enter the bloodstream.
Strychnos toxifera
Strychnine, obtained from seeds, and taken internally, acts in a slightly different way: at first, it causes an increase in the secretion of gastric juice. Then, entering the intestines, the poison is quickly absorbed and has a characteristic effect on the central nervous system, expressed in the excitation of the vagus nerve, as a result of which breathing becomes deeper, and the heartbeat slows down.
This toxic effect of strychnine causes an increase in adrenaline levels, which causes stimulation of the sympathetic nervous system, which, in turn, can lead to a rapid increase in blood pressure and sudden cardiac arrest. Death occurs in terrible convulsions arising from the simultaneous stimulation of the motor and sensory nodes of the spinal cord. Symptoms of death from strychnine poisoning are very similar to those of death from tetanus.
Strychnine is very poisonous. Just half a grain (1 grain = 0.0648 grams) of strychnine sulfate causes death in an adult within 14 minutes. The chemical antidote to strychnine is the insoluble form of tannin and amyl nitrite, which is administered subcutaneously to relieve seizures and prevent respiratory arrest.
Strychnine genus (Strychnos sp.) Has about 190 species of trees and lianas growing throughout the tropical belt of the Earth. The most common (and poisonous) ones are:
Strychnos nux-vomica L or strychnine tree Is an evergreen tree native to Southeast Asia that grows in open spaces. The plant has a short, curved, thick trunk with light, hard, fine-grained wood.
The strychnine tree has strong roots, randomly growing branches are covered with a smooth bark that has an ash tint. Young shoots of rich green color, the leaves are oblong, rather large (10 cm long and 6-7 cm wide) with a short pedicel; they are shiny and smooth on both sides. Small greenish-white flowers with a very unpleasant odor are collected in small umbellate inflorescences. The tree blooms during the coolest season.
After flowering, fruits are formed the size of a large apple, covered with a smooth, hard skin; when ripe, the rind turns into a beautiful orange color. Inside the rind is a soft, white, jelly-like flesh with five seeds covered with a tree-like shell. On the inside, the shell is white. Peeled seeds are in the form of a flat disc. They are densely covered with densely pressed hairs extending from the center of the flattened side, which gives these very hard seeds their characteristic matte sheen. The pulp and seeds are odorless but taste very bitter.
The strychnine tree, its seeds, bark and even dried flowers are the main sources of strychnine and brucine, which are currently used in homeopathy and traditional medicine.
Strychnos tieute is a climbing bush that grows in Java. Its juice is used by the local population as arrow poison. Causes death from seizures and cardiac arrest.
Strychnos ligustrina - a tree whose bark contains brucine.
Have Strychnos innocua the pulp of the fruit is safe, it is eaten in Egypt and Senegal.
Strychnos Ignatii grows in the Philippines, its seeds contain even more strychnine and brucine than Nux Vomica. The tincture made from its pods is recognized by official medicine and is part of the British Pharmacopoeia.
Strychnos pseudo grows in the mountain forests of India. The fruit is a black berry the size of a cherry and contains one seed; both the fruit and the bone are used to cleanse and disinfect turbid and dirty water, for which the plant received the local name "cleansing nut". It is enough to put one crushed bone in a vessel with water, and in a minute all the dregs will settle for days, and the water will become suitable for safe use. This property is provided by the protein compounds contained in the bone - albumin and casein, which act as clarifying agents. The same property of proteins is used in Europe in the clarification of wines and beer.
There are real beauties among the strychnine relatives. Meet this Fagraea, they also belong to the Loganiaceae family.
Fagraea fragrans and Fagraea racemosa javanica originally from Southeast Asia - from Burma-Indonesia and Java-Borneo, respectively. They are very decorative plants with a wonderful aroma. Large flowers of Javanese phagre, filled with sweet nectar, are very attractive to bats, which are its main pollinators. Flowers, leaves, bark and roots of the plant are actively used as medicinal raw materials for the preparation of traditional medicines. In Malay, Javanese phagray is called "Sepuleh", which means healer, healer.
Homeland Fagraea berteriana and Fagraea ceilanica- Hawaiian Islands. These are some of the favorite and popular ornamental plants. Their large, creamy-white fragrant flowers bloom for just one day, but, blooming one after another, fill the entire space around with a delicious scent. The local name of these beautiful plants - Pua Keni Keni - means in Hawaiian "dime flower", that was the price of one flower.
All these beauties, although to a lesser extent than strychnines, are very poisonous plants.
2. The fragrant apple of death
Exotic manzanilla or apple of death(from the Spanish word "manzana", meaning "apple" - a tree Hippomane mancinella belongs to the euphorbia family (Euphorbiaceae ). It is often called the Tree of Death. It is a sprawling tree with poisonous fruits that resemble small apples or guavas, and is quite common in the sandy seashores of the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico and the Galapagos Islands.
Attractive single or yellowish-red fruits growing in pairs with a sweet smell, at one time claimed more than one hundred lives of Spanish conquistadors, pirates and ordinary European sailors who tried to satisfy hunger and thirst with pleasantly smelling fruits ..
These magnificent trees with a branched crown, reaching twenty meters in height, under the influence of strong coastal winds can sometimes take on bizarre twisted forms.
The leaves of manzanilla are simple, ellipsoid, with pronounced yellowish veins. The death tree is considered evergreen, however, during periods of drought (December-January), it can shed most of its foliage.
With the onset of the rainy season, buds 7 cm long appear, on which there are one or two small rudimentary female flowers about 3 mm in diameter, from the star-shaped pistils of which an ovary is formed. Male flowers, even smaller in size, with many yellow anthers, are located side by side, on the same inflorescence.
Flowering occurs almost throughout the year, but manzanilla blooms especially abundantly in March. Fruits - "apples" are round, about 4 cm in diameter, very fragrant, covered with a shiny grayish skin.
There are several brown seeds inside. All parts of this plant: leaves, bark, flowers, fruits contain a viscous milky juice - a characteristic feature of all euphorbia. It is very poisonous and, moreover, has a strong irritant effect. On contact with the skin, irritation, skin burns, blistering and inflammation are observed. Manisella latex is so corrosive that it can burn through fine cotton and other lightweight fabrics.
Eye contact causes blindness, as the eyes are practically burned out by this poisonous latex. If it enters the stomach, death occurs from its perforation - the insidious manzanilla "eats" real holes in the stomach .. The smoke from burning wood causes strong irritation of the respiratory tract.
Rain and even dew flowing from the leaves of this poisonous tree is a real danger to humans and mammals. But some reptiles calmly climb on its branches and even settle there for the night. In regions where manzanilla grows, you can often see signs warning passing tourists not to stop to rest under the shade of these trees and not touch its fruits.
Euphorbia pulcherrima,
cultivar "Winter rose"
All representatives euphorbia family (Euphorbiaceae) are poisonous. However, as in every family, the degree of toxicity in different plants is also not the same. You have just met the most "harmful" and rather rare representative of the milkweed. But her relative is known and loved by many. It - Euphorbia pulcherrima , Euphorbia is the fairest or poinsettia.
The homeland of poinsettia is Mexico. Back in the XIV-XVI centuries, the Aztecs, who called this plant Cuetlaxochitle, used its red bracts to obtain a natural dye for fabrics, as well as used in cosmetics, and its white juice to treat fever.
Initially, it was a tall, slender bush, reaching a height of three meters. It has large, dark green oval leaves that are jagged at the edges that extend from soft, straight stems. During the flowering period, in winter, flowers appear at the ends of the plant. Actually, the flowers of the poinsettia are small, greenish or yellow, they are surrounded by a decorative rosette of bright bracts.
The rosette, in turn, is modified, brightly colored in scarlet, yellow, cream, white, leaves 12-15 cm long. It is this bright bracts, which looks like a star, that makes the plant so festive and attractive.
It was difficult, if not impossible, to maintain such a shrub at home, but nowadays a lot has changed. Modern varieties poinsettia - the fruit of the work of breeders, more branched, more decorative and much less demanding, their size does not exceed 30-45 cm, and "flowers" bring joy with their unique appearance for two to three months.
The name Poinsettia Euphorbia pulcherrima was named after Joel Roberts Poinsett (Poinsett in French), who was not only the United States Ambassador to Mexico, but also a keen botanist - gardener. He accidentally wandered into the street, where he saw, growing by the road, a beautiful bush covered with large red flowers.
A wonderful plant sunk into the soul of an amateur botanist and, leaving Mexico, in 1829, J.R. Poinsett cut cuttings from it, which, upon arrival home, planted in his greenhouse. The plant has taken root. Such are the smiles of fate: the diplomat made a brilliant career, later becoming a congressman, but in human memory he will forever remain the person who introduced the United States to Euphorbia pulcherrima.
Every time before Christmas and New Years, flower shops are filled with this winter joy, amazing living Christmas stars of various shades, because poinsettia blooms just before Christmas. She is the real queen of decorating the festive table, making even the darkest corner lighter and warmer, covering the trunk of a Christmas tree with pots with poinsettia.
Like all milkweed, poinsettia juice is poisonous. Of course, it does not have such a destructive effect on people as manzanilla, however, contact with the milky juice of a favorite Christmas plant on the skin can cause an allergic reaction, and in some cases, nausea and diarrhea are possible. Therefore, it is best to wear thin rubber gloves when working with poinsettia.
3. Poisonous rosary
Abrus precatorius belongs to the legume family (Fabaceae ) and is a curly flexible tree-like liana. The flowers, which form dense clusters, resemble pea flowers, which range in color from light purple to lavender pink.
Initially, abrus grew in India, but now it and related subspecies can be found almost throughout the tropical belt. Plant name abrus- from the Greek word "habrus", means elegant, graceful, and the epithet "precatorius" comes from the word "precator" - praying,which is due to the fact that they made rosary, which counted the number of prayers read.
This beautiful perennial vine with graceful leaves divided into 8-16 delicate leaves. The handsome abrus is a very aggressive plant: the vine can grow more than 6 meters during the season. It winds around the trees and it is practically impossible to get rid of it, even hard weeding does not help.
The abrus fruit is a flat, wide pod covered with fine hairs. It contains from four to eight bright scarlet seeds with a black dot in the middle, similar to a pea, somewhat elongated in shape. Occasionally, however, specimens with milky white seeds are found. Abrus seeds are often used to make ritual beads and rosaries. By the way, it was these items that helped the Abrus to spread so actively throughout the world.
All parts of this plant are poisonous, but most often abrus poisoning occurs when the seeds are chewed or even simply broken - if the hands are not washed thoroughly afterwards. Quite often, there are cases of poisoning of babies whose milk teeth are cut - they try to chew the "magic" beads hanging from the neck of the mother or grandmother.
diamond "Koh-i-noor"
Abrus seeds in India are called retti or rati, they are the weight standard for weighing precious stones - each seed weighs exactly 2.1875 grains (1 grain equals 0.0648 g). At one time, the weight of the famous Koh-i-noor diamond was determined precisely with the help of retti.
The poisonous substance of the plant is called abrin. It is a lectin glycoprotein with the property of agglutinating (gluing) blood erythrocytes. Symptoms of abrin poisoning appear after a few hours, and sometimes even days, after ingestion. They manifest themselves in the form of nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and colic in the abdomen, the functional action of the intestine is disrupted, followed by coma, circulatory collapse (circulatory collapse due to gluing of red blood cells) and death.
Immediately when symptoms of poisoning appear, immediate help should be provided - as soon as possible, give the poisoned vomit, rinse the stomach and inject saline through a dropper. Only emergency medical care can save a poisoned person from inevitable painful death. The seeds are considered the most toxic part of the abrus, and the toxin remains in the seeds for many years.
Abrus roots contain glycyrresin (it is also called Indian licorice, for which it is actually a substitute), it is used in Indian folk medicine in the preparation of pain relievers. However, the caustic resin in the roots is poisonous. Tinctures and pastes made from seeds are included in the British Pharmacopoeia; however, the medical significance of the abrus is not great.
Krishna and Radha
In India, this plant is very often used for malicious killings of cattle and other domestic animals, but cases of human poisoning are not uncommon. Attractive toys made from beautiful bright seeds are not the least in the causes of such poisoning. And also, in very small doses, the extract of abrus seeds is added to hair oil - an excellent means of fighting lice is obtained.
In another way, the Indians call the fruits of the abrus "gunya". Beads from his seeds - gunya mala - are of particular importance among representatives of the Gaudiya sect - followers of the Krishna doctrine Caitanya Mahaprabhu. They are worn around the necks of children, since, in their view, the image of Krishna as a child is inextricably linked with the gunya mala, personifying his future beloved Radha, who wore them without taking them off.
According to legend, before the birth of Krishna, Indra the Lord of Rain was the eldest among the gods. Krishna convinced people to stop worshiping Indra. Indra, wanting to show that he is stronger than Krishna, caused a heavy downpour, which rained for many, many days.
People realized that this downpour was caused by Indra's anger. But Krishna assured the people that the downpour would not do them any harm. With a wave of his little finger, he erected Mount Govardhan, sheltering people and animals there. After that, Indra recognized the superiority of Krishna, and Krishna received the epithet Govardhandhari.
On their altar, the followers of Chaitanya put a small stone - the symbol of the sacred mountain Govardhan, and around the stone they put gunya mala beads.
4. The perfect killer with a jasmine scent
Cerberus (Cerbera odollam) from the Apocynaceae family, a fairly common plant, whose homeland is India. However, it grows in Vietnam, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, and the tropical islands of the Pacific Ocean. In India, Cerbera odollam is called othalanga maram or kattu arali in Tamil. In the east, its range is limited to French Polynesia.
The plant is a large bush or small tree, the height of which does not exceed ten meters. Cerberus grows on sandy coasts, along the shores of sea bays or rivers; it can be found almost everywhere in saline mangrove swamps.
Beautiful, opposite shiny dark green leaves grow in a lush whorl on rather thin branches. The larvae of many Asian butterflies feed on Cerberus leaves.
Graceful white flowers with a reddish core smell pleasantly of jasmine.
After flowering, a green fruit is formed, resembling a small mango, as it ripens, it turns bright red.
Cerberus fruits dry right on the branches, the dried drupe is 5-10 cm long. When the dried fruits fall to the ground, a thin, outer film flies off, exposing a thick, fibrous, very decorative shell.
Thanks to this fibrous coat, Cerberus fruits are very light, they are easily picked up by ocean currents and transported over long distances, contributing to the spread of the plant in the region.
The fruit itself is in two halves, each of which contains one very poisonous bone.
Yes, yes, it's about him
Alexander Sergeevich
wrote:
".. In the stunted and stingy desert,
On the soil, red-hot heat
Anchar, like a formidable sentry,
Stands - alone in the entire universe.
The nature of the thirsty steppes
She gave birth to him on the day of anger,
And the greenery of the dead branches
And gave poison to the roots.
Poison drips through its bark
By noon melting from the heat,
And freezes in the evening
Thick transparent resin.."
5. Stopping the heart
For over 200 years, this tree has been surrounded by the darkest legends and descriptions. In the 17th century, the German-Dutch naturalist Rumphius wrote: “This tree grows on barren mountain slopes. All the land around him looks deserted and as if scorched; only horned vipers, cackling like chickens, whose eyes shine in the night, dwell under it. "
In the 18th century, an article appeared in one of the London magazines by the former military doctor Foersch, who served in Java, subsequently quoted by Erasmus Darwin in a treatise Loves of the plants, which tells about the same tree.
“The tree,” writes the doctor, “is so poisonous that it kills all living things at a distance of more than 15 miles around. As an alternative to immediate death penalty, its poison is obtained by sentenced criminals.
They wait until the wind begins to blow in the direction from them to the tree, run towards it and begin to extract poison in small portions, until the wind changes again and kills them with its poisonous breath. With luck, the poor fellows can lengthen their lives by twenty such runs .. "
In 1929, the Swedish explorer of Borneo Eric Mjoberg writes: "Staying in the immediate vicinity of these trees is life-threatening, with piles of bones lying underneath."
Did not ignore poison tree and famous writers. Shakespeare and Byron, Charlotte Brontë and Pushkin mention him in their works.
So, the name is called: this terrible stranger is the famous Anchar! Of course, most of the scary stories are retellings of local legends, embellished with traveler stories, and sometimes simple fiction. In fact, the tree of which there is such a notoriety is quite safe. Of course, its juice has been used for the preparation of poison for many centuries, but people can walk quite calmly in the shade of its magnificent crown, and birds arrange their nests on its branches. Anchar grows in many greenhouses around the world.
So who is he really, this anchar?
Powerful evergreen tree Antiaris toxicaria , belonging to the mulberry family (Moraceae), majestically spreads its crown, towering over the trunk, which in old trees reaches one and a half meters thick and almost 150 meters in height. His homeland is South and Southeast Asia: India, Sri Lanka, southern China, the Philippines, Java and Fiji. The name used in Asia for this tree - Upas or Ipoh, comes from the Javanese word for poison. Related species Antiaris toxicaria also grow in the tropical zone of Africa. However, this mighty tree, rarely found in dense thickets of the jungle, prefers to grow anchar at the foot of limestone and loam hills.
Anchar has beautiful wood, whitish or very light brown, of medium density, silky to the touch, in a freshly cut state it emits a rather unpleasant specific odor. The trunk is noticeably thickened at the base. The tree has large ellipsoid dark green shiny leaves, and numerous male and female inflorescences are covered with rather small pink flowers. After flowering, clusters of dark, almost black fruit-berries are formed on the tree, slightly resembling enlarged bunches of black currants.
Undoubtedly, antiaris is very poisonous. Initially, arrows were smeared with poison, which were fired from blowguns, using them in hunting and war. The latex of the plant contains the potent cardiac glycoside antiarin.
Getting anchar juice into open wounds or even scratches of a person or animal is extremely dangerous. The toxin causes a very rapid blood clotting, the blood vessels seem to be clogged with it, and then heart paralysis sets in.
In China, anchar is called a "murderer of blood", the Chinese even have an ugly saying describing the poisonous properties of this tree: "seven up, eight down, nine fell." This means that the poisoned with anchar has the opportunity to take only seven steps up the stairs or eight down, while at the ninth step the person falls dead. Sounds awful, and the meaning makes people in awe.
According to legend, for the first time, a hunter named Dai used the poison of anchar. During the hunt, a large bear chased him, and Dai had to escape from him in a tree. But the bear, continuing its pursuit, crawled after him. Then the hunter began to break branches and throw them at the bear; He threw one of the branches so that he accidentally hit the animal in the eye. And lo and behold! The bear fell from the tree and died. It turned out that the tree on which the hapless hunter was saving was an anchar.
Modern chemical analysis has shown that anchar latex consists of more than 30 rare cardiac cardenolides - the strongest poisonous alkaloids. The most important toxic agent is antiarin, which makes up about 2% of the total mass of latex. The antiarin molecule consists of two components: the sterol antiarigenin (Sterin antiarigenin), which is a poison, and the glycoside L-Rhamnose, which is a composite of sugars. The sugar component combines with the poisonous one through a very heat-sensitive oxygen bridge - a glycosidic compound. It is sugar that makes the substance of the molecule quickly dissolving in water and blood.
However, if latex or an already released poison is exposed to strong heating, for example, when cooking the meat of a poisoned animal during cooking, the glycosidic compound is destroyed, the sugar component is released and the poison loses its destructive properties.
Also, chemists noted an interesting fact that antiaris poison is found in the bark, wood, roots and seeds of the plant, while it is absent in the leaves, male inflorescences and fruit pulp.
The process of preparing poison for arrows begins with the fact that an incision is made in the bark of a tree with a knife, from which latex flows, which is collected like we collect in spring Birch juice... When a sufficient amount flows, it is poured into a bamboo container. Sometimes the latex is harvested directly into the young, not yet fully expanded leaves of the Licuala spinosa palm tree, which resemble accordion furs. These leaves are so strong and fire-resistant that they can be safely placed on a burning gas burner. These qualities are one of the secrets of the preparation of the poison: latex is placed in a container made of such a sheet, folded in the form of a boat, for the subsequent, rather lengthy process of dehydration.
Then a very low heat is made and at a height of about 70 cm, a palm container with latex is suspended from peeled twigs. If it rains, the container is temporarily removed from the fire and brought into the hut. The dehydration process requires great patience and care. To obtain an average amount of ready-made poison, it is necessary to warm it up for a week. During the preparation process, the latex first turns dark brown, and by the end of the process the mass becomes more and more viscous and becomes black with a metallic sheen.
But, of course, the greatest attention should be paid to the temperature regime, since if a slightly higher heating is allowed, the toxic properties of latex will collapse, and the product will acquire a sweet taste. This is well known to local hunters, therefore, during the cooking process, from time to time they taste the mass with the tip of their tongue - immediately spitting and rinsing their mouth. A properly prepared poison should be very bitter. If the taste is sweetish, the mass is thrown away and all work begins over again.
Despite its terrible reputation, the anchar also has advantages: its bark is so thick and elastic that the local population often uses it for the production of rugs and clothes.
First, a piece of bark of the right size is selected and cut off from the tree. Then the bark is softened by tapping with wooden hammers, while stretching it to the desired length. When the bark has completely separated from the remnants of the inner wood and acquired the required size, it is immersed in water for a period of about a month.
After that, the bark is washed and knocked out again to get rid of the remaining liquid, gluten and poison. Now the bark becomes like a white dense soft fabric from which pants and shirts are made, as well as soft and comfortable rugs-mats that do not lose their softness and elasticity for decades.
And on antiaris toxicaria- the famous Anchar itself, tourists from all over the world now come to Asia to see.
6. Poisonous beauties from Africa
Poison arrows and spears of African tribes are also well known as poison arrows of South America. The substance with which their tips are lubricated is so toxic that even a small scratch is enough for a large animal to die in a matter of minutes. And they get it from plants belonging to the family kutrovye (Apocynaceae), which grow in abundance throughout the continent. All kutrovye are distinguished by their obvious insecurity, they are all very beautiful. Some are also useful. In my own way.
The genus strophanthus has about 40 species of flowering plants. Almost all of them originate from the tropical rainforests of South Africa, although some species are also found in Asia, in the tropical region from India and the Philippines to southern China.
The name is strophantus (in Greek “ strophos anthos"Means" twisted rope ") due to its appearance: the flowers of these plants are characterized by very long, twisted threadlike corolla segments; in some species, for example, in Strophanthos preussii , they can reach 35-40 centimeters in length , which decoratively hang from flowers and resemble (at least to a white man) poisonous arrows fired. In English, this plant is called: "poison arrow" - "poison arrow".
The genus of strophanthus includes vines, shrubs, and small trees. All of them are characterized by non-serrated, elongated-oval, opposite leaves, in some species the leaves grow in the form of a whorl.
Not being a true vine, strophantus weaves through trees without intertwining or attaching tendrils, as is typical for ordinary vines, but uses their shoots almost like arms that hug thick branches. At the ends of the shiny evergreen thick leathery leaves are clusters of very decorative flowers, somewhat reminiscent of the flowers of adenium, plumeria and tabernemontanus. And this is not surprising, because they are relatives, but the closest relatives of strophanthus are allamanda and oleander.
Their sepals are wide, and the corolla can be white, cream, yellowish, orange, pinkish, sometimes with purple specks. A tubule about three centimeters high emerges from the corolla core, the ends of the lobes of which are decorated with elongated "pendants" characteristic of these plants, painted in different colors.
The most decorative species is an Strophanthos gratus or, as it is also called, curly oleander and Strophanthus bovinii, whose flowers seem to be carved from a tropical tree.
All strophanthus are highly poisonous, so the most common use of strophanthus among primitive tribes is to use an extract from the seeds of strophantus, a chemical ouabain, as the main ingredient in the poison that is used to lubricate hunting arrows.
The toxin of strophanthus is a group of alkaloids containing cardiac glycosides: g-strophanthin (synonym for ouabain), k-strophanthin and e-strophanthin - the most active pacemakers, which later found wide medical use not only in the treatment of heart diseases, but also used in the treatment of other organs and tissues of the body.
The effect of strophanthin on the heart is somewhat similar to that which digitalis preparations have on it ( Digitalis purpurea) - violation of the heart rhythm, reduction in the number of heartbeats up to its complete stop. However, despite the fact that all types of strophantus contain cardiac glycosides, plants have a kind of "specialization". So, StrophanthosKombe richest in k-strophanthin, Strophanthos emini- e-strophanthin, Strophanthos hispidus - h-strofantin, Strophanthos gratus - g-strofantin, which is the famous glycoside ouabain. In total, strophanthus contains more than 10% of cardiac glycosides.
Modern scientists call strophanthin preparations milk for an aging heart. These drugs are fast-acting, which distinguishes them from digitalis drugs, which act on the body much more slowly, and after all, with heart attacks, the count often goes on for minutes; another difference is the more gentle effect of drugs on peripheral blood vessels.
Currently, stofantin is a very valuable medicine that helps not only with heart disease, it is also used to lower high blood pressure, with anesthesia during surgical operations... Like many plants containing cardiac glycosides, strophantus is a powerful diuretic.
Currently, strophanthus are grown commercially for pharmacological purposes.
At one time, when Africans first learned that the British were using their famous poison for medicinal purposes, they said that they always knew that white people were crazy, but they never knew how crazy.
Another plant from the kutrov family is called Bushman poison. Official name his - Acokanthera oppositifolia - comes from the Greek word, which means that the pollen of a flower has irritating properties; the adjective "oppositifolia" indicates the opposite arrangement of the leaves of the plant.
Like all relatives of strophanthus, acokantera - climbing plant with dark green dense leaves. It is a fairly cold-tolerant evergreen plant that tolerates well both the scorching tropical sun and deep shade of a humid forest. However, given the opportunity to choose, the acokantera prefers the shady edges of tropical rainforests or dense thickets of bushes. The plant is widespread throughout South Africa, with the exception of arid regions.
Acocantera blooms in late winter or early spring in bunches of beautiful, pinkish, very fragrant flowers. After flowering, non-poisonous fruits are formed, similar to large black plums. They are eaten with pleasure by forest birds.
All other parts of the acokantera are extremely poisonous, from the latex with which the branches are filled, the Bushmen make their infamous arrow poison. For medical purposes, acocantera toxin is used to prepare medicines used for snake and spider bites, worms, as well as for pain and chills.
7. Insidious Maori treat
The chapter uses photographsNew Zealand Plant Conservation Network
Corynocarpus laevigatus or Karaka from the family (Corynocarpaceae) is a rare plant endemic to New Zealand. Sometimes this tree is called New Zealand laurel, but this name is not used very often.
Karaka is a beautiful tall tree with a rounded crown, resistant to the vagaries of the weather. It feels great on the sea coasts, blown by salty oceanic winds, which, as a rule, rarely allow trees to grow tall enough, however, their influence on karaku is minimal. She loves the sun and light partial shade, and in summer - sufficient humidity. At a young age, the plant is sensitive to cold.
Karaka grows very slowly, but every year its crown becomes more and more beautiful, at a ten-year-old tree the shadow of the crown covers an area of 5 x 8 meters. The karaka beauty is widespread in the coastal forests of New Zealand. It has long been cultivated and used by the Maori - the indigenous population of this island state.
The bark of the karaka is gray, the branches are strong with beautiful large shiny oval dark green leaves.
In early winter - from the end of May in the Southern Hemisphere - a lot of panicle inflorescences 18-20 cm long appear on the tree. The flowers of the karaka are small, only 4-5 mm, but fleshy; five petals have a greenish-cream shade, sometimes with a predominance of light yellow or almost white flowers... Pollinated by birds.
By the beginning of summer (December-January), numerous oblong fruits begin to ripen, somewhat reminiscent of olives in shape. Karaka fruits are yellow-orange drupes, they have fibrous pulp, which is covered with a smooth, rather hard skin. The bone contains a poisonous core, which emits a very specific smell in the process of decay. Karaka reproduces very easily by seeds.
Back in the 19th century, the Maori used the fruit of karaka for food, it was one of the types of their plant-based diet. To collect fruits, the tribe went to the forest, where karak trees grew, strewn with ripe fruits, knocked them off the trees with sharp blows of a long stick, and then put them in baskets.
On the nearest beach, large holes were dug into which the collected fruits were poured, they were buried again and a fire was made from above. After a few hours, and sometimes even the next day, the karaka was taken out of the earthen oven, put in baskets and placed for rinsing in the water of the nearest stream or lagoon, leaving it there for a day or two. After such processing, the pulp and skin were easily separated from the stone, which by this time was completely free of poison.
After soaking, the karaka was peeled and laid out on mats for drying. The ready-to-eat product was put in clean baskets and left until winter in order to be able to serve it on the festive table, to treat it to guests, as well as for offering to the leaders of the tribes living on the neighboring islands.
Currently, due to significant changes in Maori living conditions, as well as the danger of possible poisoning, karaka is used only as an ornamental plant that can decorate any landscape.
The karaka bone contains a deadly poison - the alkaloid karakin. Karakin causes such strong and prolonged convulsions that a person's limbs seem to freeze curved in a wide variety of positions. The person's face turns red, the eyes are driven out of the orbits, the tongue protrudes from the mouth, and the jaw turns into a terrible grin. Karakin poisoning does not cause vomiting. The most painful death occurs in two or three days.
One of the 19th century travelers, who visited New Zealand and visited one of the Maori tribes, describes the case of the poisoning of a twelve-year-old boy with karaki poison:
“.. One of his leg cramped to the waist, and the other was twisted forward, twisting so that the heel was in front, and the toes were in the back. One arm was twisted behind the shoulders, and the other was twisted in an extended position forward. All his muscles were tense and motionless. The boy could not do anything: not to change the position of his body, not to drive away the mosquitoes that clung to his naked body, or to scratch the places of their bites, or to put something in his mouth .. "
However, if the poisoning was caused by a very small dose of poison, and the victim was a small child who is easy to deal with, sometimes it was possible to save the unfortunate person. To do this, at the first signs of poisoning, the child was quickly placed in a hole dug on the seashore, after having swaddled his arms and legs in the correct position, a piece of wood was inserted into his mouth so that he would not bite his tongue, and then buried in a standing position on the very cheeks ... The child was left in this state until the moment when the crisis passed or until the unfortunate person died.
As already mentioned, karaka is endemic, except for New Zealand it can be found only in large botanical gardens. However, often it is not true Corynocarpus laevigatus that grow there, but related species from the same Corynocarpaceae family. There are only 48 such species, four of which are outwardly similar to karaku, but their fruits differ from karaka fruits in color, size and shape.
Karaka can be grown perfectly in a container as indoor plant, because besides the stone, the rest of the plant is non-poisonous. It is not difficult to take care of it: you need regular, but not frequent watering throughout the year, feeding and transplanting as the roots grow. The container with karaka can remain in the garden or on the balcony until the very cold (-5C).
8. Order of the Monks of the Poisonous Brotherhood
Speaking about poisonous plants growing in the tropics, I would like to dwell on one of those ubiquitous representatives of the plant world, which, disdaining all borders and climatic zones, have spread almost all over the world.
The Mediterranean is considered the birthplace of aconite. But it is not for nothing that its flowers have the shape of a monastic hood - like a humble monk, aconite adorns well-kept European gardens and, like a true missionary, paves the way to distant countries. The plant thrives not only throughout Europe, including the circumpolar regions of Scandinavia, it grows in Central Asia and the Far East, in the mountains of Tibet and Nepal and in sultry tropical India.
Aconitum napellus, a member of the buttercup family (Ranunculaciae), is a herbaceous perennial about a meter high with a fleshy spindle-shaped root. In a young plant, the root is pale, almost without any color, and in an adult plant, the rhizome is covered with a dark brown skin.
Aconite has dark green, shiny, dissected palm-like leaves, and bright blue flowers seem to be planted on an erect tall stem. The shape of the flower is an ideal landing site for receiving guests - bees and bumblebees, collecting nectar, and at the same time pollinating aconite.
Aconite's sepals are purple - it has been noticed that this color is especially attractive to bees - and have a bizarre shape, reminiscent of a monk's cowl. The two petals are fancy hammer-shaped nectaries. Multiple stamens are at first tightly pressed to the pharynx of the flower, but in the midst of flowering they straighten out, exposing the anthers to a position most convenient to shower with pollen from arriving insects. By transferring pollen to the pistil of another flower, bees and bumblebees contribute to the pollination of aconite and, accordingly, the formation of seeds. Aconite loves soil that easily retains moisture, such as moist loam, and blooms more actively in the shade.
The name of this plant comes from the Greek word Aconae, meaning "rock" or "cliff", as it often grows in narrow mountain valleys. Napellus means "small turnip", it is this root vegetable that the root of aconite looks a bit like. The most common name for aconite in English-speaking countries is Monkshood, "Monk's Cowl", which has survived from the Middle Ages to the present day.
All parts of the plant contain complex diterpene alkaloids, which are most concentrated in the seeds and root: aconitine, benzylaconine, aconine, mezaconitine, hypaconitine, neopelline, napellin and neolin. Their content varies depending on the growing area, and ranges from 0.5 to 1.5%. And although the crystallized alkaloid aconitine is present in this mixture of alkaloids only 0.2%, it is he who determines the toxicity of the plant. The most toxic are the aconites that grow in the southern regions.
Aconitine acts even stronger and faster than hydrocyanic acid. Only 0.01 grains (1 grain = 0.0648 grams), causes well-expressed sensations throughout the body, which make themselves felt during the day. The strength of this poison is such that the sap of the plant, hitting a small wound on the finger, has an effect on the entire body, not only causing pain in the limbs, but also fainting, accompanied by suffocation.
Symptoms of aconite poisoning begin to appear in the form of a burning sensation in the mouth, then numbness occurs first of the tongue, and then of the whole mouth, there is a feeling of goosebumps running all over the body, vomiting and diarrhea uncontrollable by a person begins, accompanied by pain in the stomach and shortness of breath.
The pulse becomes weak and irregular, the skin becomes cold and clammy; there is anxiety, fear, pallor, dizziness is observed, but consciousness remains clear. Then paralysis of the limbs, convulsions develop, and respiratory paralysis occurs. Aconitine causes a decrease in the concentration of intracellular potassium. The loss of potassium by the heart muscle leads to a decrease in myocardial excitability, blockade and cardiac arrest. Death can occur within 1-2 hours after taking aconite.
There is no specific antidote, but with immediate first-aid help, you can try to save the patient.
The victim needs to do a gastric lavage, give a tincture of digitalis inside to maintain cardiac activity, in its absence, you can give the victim a little diluted brandy, and, while waiting for a doctor, do artificial respiration and rub the limbs.
As a raw material for the preparation of a deadly poison, aconite has been known since ancient times. According to ancient Greek myths, he was created by the dark goddess Hecate from the saliva of Cerberus, a dog guarding the gates to the kingdom of the dead. It was with the poison made from aconite that Medea filled Theseus' goblet. The Scandinavians believed that aconite grew up on the site of the death of the god Thor, who defeated a poisonous snake and died from its bites. According to legend, it was from aconite poisoning that the great Tamerlane died - his skullcap was soaked in poisonous juice.
Aconite and belladonna were part of the "magic" potion used by medieval witches to achieve the sensation of flight: aconite disrupted the work of the heart, and belladonna caused hallucinations, in combination, these symptoms allowed witches to "fly".
Today, the properties of aconite as a raw material for the production of medicines are fully realized; medicines prepared on its basis are of great importance in modern medicine. They are especially often used by homeopathic doctors. Tinctures and ointments containing aconite are used mainly externally, using to relieve neuralgic, rheumatic pain and lumbago.
Aconite is used in Tibetan and Chinese medicine. Aconitum, which grows in China and East India (especially in the states of Sikkim and Assam), has especially strong properties. ferox . The poison obtained from the roots of this plant is here called bikh or nabi. During the war with the British, the Indians, using spears, pikes and arrows poisoned with this poison, even managed to stop the advance of the well-armed British regular army. Bikh poison is also used when hunting tigers.
Abu Abdullah Jafar ibne Mohammad Rudaki
One can talk about poisonous plants for a long time. But, confining ourselves to the scope of the article, let's make a short summary:
- when contacting them, you need to be extremely careful, especially if we grow them in our garden or in our home;
- they have long ceased to be a scarecrow, which they have been for centuries, if not millennia, for superstitious people with little education;
- they live next to us, many of them are amazingly beautiful;
- people have learned to use their properties for healing and - what a paradox! - to save lives.
In conclusion, I can only quote from the verses of the great Persian-Tajik poet of antiquity Rudaki (858-941), who lived in the 10th century, who wrote:
"What is now called a drug will become poison tomorrow.So what then? Patients will again consider poison a medicine .. "
Having absolutely no understanding of tropical vegetation, upon arrival on the island, although not for the first time, I was surprised by the rather large number of mangoes growing in the complex. Four or five trees of medium height fit perfectly into a beautiful green addition to the houses - villas. The tree is sprawling and has beautiful leaves, attractive flowers and beautiful fruits.
If I had not tried to understand and study the local plants, I would have believed that this is a mango. Imagine my surprise and misunderstanding when I saw in the atlas of Asian vegetation that it was Cerberus Odollam or sea mango. Probably, such low and beautiful trees are suitable for landscaping. The tree has a beautiful crown, attractive white flowers and beautiful fruits in shape and color. 
But according to the descriptions of the properties, this tree is very poisonous. Moreover, all its parts are poisonous, especially the fruits. 
The seeds of the fruit of the sea mango contain the glycoside cerberin, which causes cardiac arrest when ingested. The poison acts quickly, it is difficult to determine it in the body. Many tropical plants are poisonous. ... But if plumeria juice can cause burns, then Cerberus kills. It is possible that this is protection from various pests, monkeys and other plant enemies. I, as an adult, do not "bite" for such a free fruit, but the children, who in the complex are of different ages, and do not always walk with their parents, is unknown. After all, they can pick beautiful fruits for fun. This tree is often used by suicides, because it also has another unpleasant name - the suicide tree. Another name for this beautiful tree- a dog with three heads that guards the entrance to heavenly hell. However, it is believed that this tree of good spirits attracts, and drives away bad ones. Apparently that is why such trees are grown near dwellings. And the good spirits are revered here, and the evil ones are feared. They try in every possible way to appease them.
I found a description of the toxic properties of Cerberus fruits in the atlas of Cerberus mangoid plants and, again, sea mango. This is a different kind of Cerberus. This type of Cerberus differs from Odallam only in a small detail in flowers and fruits. Cerberus of Odollam has a white flower center with a yellow spot. Therefore, she is also called the yellow-eyed Cerberus. In the mango-shaped Cerberus, the middle of the flower with a red or pink spot is a red-eyed Cerberus. Also, the fruits of the Odallam Cerberus are green when ripe, and brown in the mangoid. But in the description there is also a line that all Cerberus are very poisonous. Some are less poisonous, others with the lethal properties of fruits.
Mango, unlike marine mangoes, is a very tall tree. This is the mango that is blooming. This tree grows a few meters from our complex. It is always in sight. 
Mango fruits are more elongated in shape. Mango fruits are bright yellow when ripe. But before this state, they are not on the tree. Green, but already ripening fruits fall to the ground, especially after strong gusts of wind. Cerberus fruits are brown or green when ripe. The crown of trees is different. In mango it is more elongated, in Cerberus it is more spreading. The leaves are almost identical in mango and cerberus. The mango fruit has a huge bone inside.
I didn't particularly want to study the Cerberus fruit, but I did it anyway. Cerberus fruits fall to the ground. Finding such a fruit was not difficult. 
I try to cut the fruit in half with a sharp large knife. It didn't work out. As I expected, there is a hard bone inside. I cut the flesh of the fruit on the sides. 
The pulp is firm and like shavings. 
Inside, an almost round bone is 3.5 centimeters long. 
The bone is not cleared of pulp, but it is felt that it is lumpy. The bone is hard, but it has a crack on one side. Apparently, the fruit is ripe and this crack will allow the sprout to appear. With little difficulty, I cut the bone along the crack. 
The inside is not solid light flesh. I don't smell it, but it's all sticky. There is probably a lot of oil that does not spare the heart. I quickly get rid of all this mass. Mango pits differ significantly from Odallam Cerberus pits.
The mango also blooms in a completely different way. The mango has inconspicuous small yellow flowers collected in a panicle.
The flowers of the Cerberus are of medium size, quite attractive in appearance. 
A very interesting detail in the structure of the Cerberus flower. One part, often the left, of all the petals is elongated. Petals are not proportional.
It is not difficult to grow such a tree. Growing marine mango is similar to growing a coconut tree. A ripe fruit is buried one third of the way into the ground. Later, one sprout appears. The tree is unpretentious in growing, including in indoor conditions on the windowsill.
Here is such a poisonous tree, this sea mango. It does not evoke pleasant feelings, although it is beautiful. This beauty is somehow evil and repulsive.
It is not entirely clear why the plant is called the mango tree. Although the fruits are similar in some ripening period in appearance from the outside.
Without exception, all plants from the family kutrovye (Apocynaceae)- very beautiful. Take at least our usual periwinkle (Vínca), which can often be found in cemeteries: blue graceful petals of intricately irregular shape ... The leaves are remarkable for their amazing strength and vitality, retaining a fresh look even under the snow - that's why the periwinkle transferred from the forest to gardens and parks has become a symbol of vitality, and planted in cemeteries - a symbol of eternal love and good memory. Like a fragrant violet, it blooms early in the spring, but few people pay attention to it. According to legend, he complained about his fate to the goddess Flora, and she gave him larger flowers, and life is longer than that of a violet, and gave the modest messenger of spring the name Pervinka.
A special magical power has long been attributed to the unfading plant. In Austria and Germany, periwinkle wreaths were used for divination for marriage; hung over the windows, they protected the house from lightning strikes. The flowers collected between the Assumption and Nativity of the Virgin had the ability to drive away all evil spirits: they were worn on themselves or hung over front door... Wreaths made of periwinkle (it was called "the violet of the dead", since wreaths were woven from it on graves), hung over the entrance, helped to find the witch. Periwinkle owes all these magical properties to its amazing vitality - it lives as long as a drop of water remains in the vase (and the other flowers of the bouquet have dried up long ago), and if you take it out of the vase and stick it into the ground, it will quickly take root.
According to the site of the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, the genus Vinca has 5 species. In the middle zone of the Russian Federation there is periwinkle (Vinca minor), khreshchaty periwinkle, burial ground, with erect flowering shoots, winter-green leaves and a light blue corolla with bluntly cut limbs.
The handsome periwinkle, like all members of the kutrovy family, has another enviable quality - it is extremely poisonous. In the Middle Ages, in court, with the help of periwinkle, they checked whether the accused had a connection with the devil.
Not only in the Middle Ages, but even today kutrovy are widely used in legal proceedings in some countries. For example, "the perfect killer with a jasmine scent" - Cerbera odollam, common in South and Southeast Asia, as well as in Madagascar. Cerbera odollam is named after the mythological Cerberus, the terrible guardian dog of the gates to the realm of the dead. His saliva was so poisonous that it destroyed all living things for several meters around it. Well, the tropical plant bears its name with dignity. All parts of Cerbera odollam are highly toxic, however, the largest amount of toxin is found in the seed oil.
The seed oil contains the alkaloid cerberine, which is similar in structure to digoxin, the digitalis toxin (foxglove), as well as the glycoside cerberoside. These poisons block the passage of calcium ions in the heart muscle, which causes a gradual slowdown of the heartbeat until it stops completely. Death occurs 3-4 hours after the poison enters the body. You cannot even use Cerberus wood to light fires, as the smoke can cause severe poisoning.
So in Madagascar, Cerberus was used for a long time as a "divine court" in determining the guilt of a particularly dangerous criminal. Took poison, died - it means guilty! Especially often the verdict of guilt Cerberus "made" in the trials of witches or conspirators against the royal power. This custom has survived to this day. According to official figures, in 1991 more than six thousand residents of Madagascar died as a result of this "divine judgment".
The Cerberus beauty often lands in parks and near hotels, and few people know that this is the perfect killer. It is not for nothing that Cerberus also has the commonly used name of the suicide tree.
This is one of the most potent poisons on earth, besides, it is practically unknown to Western doctors, chemists, analysts and forensic scientists and, to the convenience of killers, cerberine decomposes very quickly without a trace in the body, and therefore is not determined when establishing the causes of death.
Even if we count only the officially recorded deaths from poisoning with Cerberus, their number is growing steadily. For the period from 1989 to 1999. this number has increased by almost 10 times.
In India, the “perfect killer” is used quite often. Since the kernels have a bitter taste, they are usually ground and mixed with the spicy and savory local food. Traditionally, Indian women use this tool more often, solving their matrimonial or legal problems in such a cardinal way.
In some Indian states, where the birth of girls in the family is considered undesirable and almost shameful, Cerberus is used to "regulate" the birth of babies of the desired sex. A pregnant woman who has undergone an ultrasound examination, which has determined that she is carrying a girl, is simply killed in a proven way for centuries. Or, after birth, "unnecessary" girls are killed in the same way.
The beauty and majesty of kutrovy flowers are highly appreciated in ornamental gardening. In the tropics, the crown of a beauty queen can be given plumeria... The genus Plumeria L. has 70 plant species. The range of the genus is the tropical regions of the Pacific Islands, the Caribbean, South America, Mexico, California, Thailand. Plumeria has won worldwide fame for its gorgeous aromatic flowers. Collected in more or less branched, short clusters at the top of the shoot, they appear on the tree in spring, along with new leaves, and often bloom throughout the summer months. Flowers of various shapes and shades (white, yellowish or purple-pink) consist of five or more petals, reach 5-10 cm in diameter, are most fragrant in the morning.
Plumeria is the national flower of Laos and Bali, and among the Mayans, it was a symbol of eroticism and lust.
The common name for plumeria is frangipani, after the Italian nobleman who created the perfume using this amazing scent. Extracts from plumeria oil are widely used in cosmetology and have anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and regenerating effects on the skin, therefore they are excellent for use in night creams, as well as in means for deep skin cleansing.
Everywhere in the tropics, they are planted as a trimmed fence Allamanda. According to the Kew Botanical Gardens website, the genus has 15 species and they are all very decorative. Many species served as a favorite decoration for greenhouses in the 18th - 19th centuries.
In decorative tropical gardening, another representative of a beautiful and poisonous family is also widely used - adenium, a genus of shrubby or arboreal succulents originating in tropical regions of Africa, where it is found from Senegal to Sudan and Kenya, and the Arabian Peninsula. The bright scarlet flowers of adenium have great decorative effect, thanks to which the plant has earned its popularity. The pharynx of a flower is usually lighter in color. Flowers are pink, yellow, white, red-black. Simple and terry. Like all kutrovye adenium is dangerous, when cut, it emits poisonous juice, therefore, after transplanting or reproducing a plant, it is recommended to thoroughly wash your hands with soap and water.
It is also widely divorced in our room culture. And in the south - and in the open field. It is also common in the tropics. His homeland is now difficult to establish. Oleander is also poisonous, so care must be taken when cultivating it. Many varieties of oleander have been bred, differing in habit (including the height of adult plants - from 1.8 to 3.5 m), foliage color, corolla color; some varieties have simple flowers, others have double flowers (with an increased number of petals).
In indoor floriculture, it is very beautiful and fragrant. Stephanotis or Madagascar jasmine. A little more than a dozen species of this plant are known, common in Japan, China, Madagascar and the islands of the Malay Archipelago. All stephanotis are climbing evergreens. In the flower market, they have become widespread relatively recently and, perhaps, therefore, are considered difficult to care for.
Grow at home Stephanotis profusely(Stephanotis floribunda). Its leaves are oval, leathery, dark green. But the main advantage of this plant is its beautiful white fragrant star-shaped flowers. In many countries, they are an indispensable element in the bride's bouquet.
Tabernaemontana- evergreen flowering shrub. it owes its complex name to the German physicist and botanist J. T. von Bergsabern, who lived in the 16th century, and who called it by his own name, translated into Latin. In the Russian interpretation, it can literally sound like a mountain tavern or mountain abode.
Tevetia Peruvian, or yellow oleander (Thevetia Peruviana) has graceful bright flowers that resemble delicate bells in shape. The seed-fruit is about the size of a chestnut. This attractive bush with racemose inflorescences pleases with apricot-yellow flowers from spring to late autumn. One oleander seed can sprout two plants.
Another very interesting genus from the kutrovy family is the pachypodium. Pachypodium- succulent trees or shrubs. The main characteristic of the genus is thick trunks, in which a reserve of water is created in case of drought and unfavorable conditions for roots growing on rocks. Despite the different appearance of the Pachypodiums, they all have a thickened trunk. The appearance of Pachypodiums ranges from bottle-like dwarfs to bottle-shaped oval-shaped shrubs and cactus-like trees. The second feature of the Pachypodiums is the presence of thorns. The spikes are grouped in pairs or triplets and are arranged in rings or curls around the trunk. Thorns appear at the same time as leaves and grow for a short period, then their growth stops and they harden. The thorns are not restored, and as a result of the friction of the trunk, all but the youngest thorns can be erased; old specimens may have smooth trunks and branches.
Pachypodiums grow in Madagascar and continental Africa (Angola, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland).
Kutrovye - a family noticeable in the tropics, there are 200 genera and more than 2000 species in both hemispheres. It is one of the most specialized entomophilous families (pollinated by insects). So, the method of pollination in periwinkle is well studied. The funnel-shaped corolla of the periwinkle with characteristic scales inside has a rather long tube, at the bottom of which there are two nectaries on the sides of the ovary. The stigma, which is extremely peculiar in shape, is equipped with a ring-shaped platform covered with sticky mucus. Filaments are S-curved, so that the anthers hang over the stigma. Pollinators - long-proboscis bees and butterflies - to get to the nectar, squeeze the proboscis between the stamens and the stigma. At the same time, they lubricate it with sticky mucus, so that when it moves back, pollen sticks to the mucus. When visiting other flowers, pollen easily gets on their stigmas. The role of the scales in the corolla tube is to prevent unwanted visitors from entering the flowers.
As is often the case, kutrovye not only kill, but also heal. The species of the genera Acokanthera, Apocynum, Cerbera, Nerium, Thevetia and Strophantus are sources of cardiac glycosides that have cardiotonic and antiarrhythmic effects in therapeutic doses and are used to treat heart failure of various etiologies. They increase the efficiency of the myocardium, providing economical and at the same time efficient activity of the heart.
Tatiana Zakharova
Sin .: pong pong, buta buta, nyan, suicide tree.
Cerberus mangas is an evergreen tree with whorled branches, dark green leaves and fragrant pink and white flowers. The fruits of the plant resemble mango fruits in appearance, but are inedible. The plant is highly poisonous. Cerberus mangas is known as an ornamental crop in indoor floriculture.
The plant is poisonous!Ask the experts
In medicine
Cerberus mangas is a non-pharmacopoeial plant and is not used in official medicine. The plant is highly poisonous, but some peoples of Malaysia use Cerberus latex for medicinal purposes in case of poisoning, causing a gag reflex.
Contraindications and side effects
The plant is highly poisonous, so it is very dangerous to use it for medicinal purposes. All parts of the plant contain the cardiac glycoside cerberin, which can be fatal in high doses. Inhalation of Cerberus Mangas vapors provokes severe discomfort. Cerberus mangas looks like mango fruit, but tastes very bitter. Cases of human poisoning with the fruits of Cerberus are known.
In floriculture
Cerberus mangas is an ornamental plant known in indoor floriculture. It is not difficult to grow her. The plant is unpretentious in care. It grows rather slowly. Cerberus is a light-loving plant that grows well in the western, eastern exposure. Cerberus requires moderate watering, does not need spraying. In winter, the plant is kept at a temperature not lower than +18 degrees, in summer - at +25 - 30 degrees.
Classification
Cerberus mangas (lat.Cerbera manghas) is an evergreen tree, a species of the genus Cerberus (lat.Cerbera). Belongs to the Kutrovy family (Latin Apocynaceae). The genus Cerberus (lat.Cerbera) includes 6 species, including Cerberus mangas.
Botanical description
Cerberus mangas is a perennial evergreen tree, reaching 8, occasionally 20 m in height. The bark of the tree is gray-brown, the branches grow whorled. The leaves are dark green, obovate with a pointed end, on long petioles up to 5 cm. Leaves are arranged oppositely on the branches. In the leaves and other organs there are tubules-glands that contain the milky juice - latex.
Cerberus blooms in corymbose dense inflorescences up to 20 cm in width and length, which consist of small fragrant flowers. The corolla has a pure white bend and a red-pink tube. The calyx is divided into ovoid-quadrangular or ovoid-triangular sepals. Stamens up to 1 mm in length, have lanceolate anthers up to 2.6 mm in length, pistil up to 1 mm in length.
Cerberus fruit is a large green drupe up to 8 cm long and up to 6 cm wide, resembling a mango fruit. The fruit contains several seeds. The flowering of the plant can be observed from March to mid-autumn.
Spreading
The natural range of Cerberus mangas is the Malaysian islands in the west of the Pacific Ocean. The plant is also found in Australia, the Seychelles, Madagascar. India is considered the birthplace of Cerberus. It grows along the shores of sea bays or along sandy river banks, and is ubiquitous in saline mangrove swamps.
Procurement of raw materials
The plant is highly poisonous, as it contains a poisonous milky sap. However, the locals use the dried leaves as an external remedy. Leaves are dried in the shade under a canopy.
Chemical composition
The chemical composition of Cerberus mangas is not well understood. Milk juice contains a large number of rubber. The toxicity of the plant determines the presence of alkaloids, among which cerberine is isolated. This toxin is found in the greatest amount in the fatty oil of the seeds of the plant. In addition to cerberine, the glycoside cerberoside has been isolated in the composition of cerbera.
Pharmacological properties
Cerberus latex (milky juice) and seed oil contain the poisonous cardiac glycoside cerberin, which causes severe poisoning, and large quantities able to kill a person. Cerberin resembles digoxin in structure - a digitalis or foxglove toxin that blocks the conduction of impulses in the body, including the heart rate. Death occurs 3-4 hours after the ingestion of Cerberus poison. Even the inhalation of smoke from a wood fire from a plant can provoke severe intoxication of the body. In some Pacific Islans, minimal amounts of Cerberus are medicinally used to induce vomiting in case of poisoning.
Application in traditional medicine
Traditional healers use dried leaves of Cerberus mangas externally, applying to places of skin irritation.
Historical reference
Local residents have known about the poisonousness of the plant for a long time. Fishermen from the Philippine Islands used Cerberus seeds to catch fish. The natives of Madagascar used toxic seeds to determine the guilt of the defendant. It was believed that whoever ate the Cerberus seed and survived was not to blame. Conversely, the culprits died from the use of this herbal poison. However, after 1861, this "justice" was abolished due to the tragic death of almost two percent of the island's population. Cerberus mangas fruits resemble mango fruits in appearance, so many people mistakenly confuse them, being in danger.
Cerbera odollam is named after the mythological Cerberus, a monstrous dog that guards the gates to the kingdom of the dead. People believed that his saliva was highly poisonous, destroying all living things around him. Another well-known name for Cerberus is the suicide tree, which means “suicide tree”. Residents of many countries of Southeast Asia call the plant nyan, pong pong, buta buta.
Literature
1. Family 165. Apocynaceae // Flora Vitiensis Nova. - 1988. - Vol. 4. - P. 89-92.
2. S. Scott, C. Thomas. Poisonous Plants of Paradise. - 2000. - P. 37-41.