The world's most violent plants won't just kill the random fly who lands in the wrong place in the jungle, they'll also kill you, your family and your pets if touched or ingested. From the pitcher plants which can drown a rodent without breaking a sweat to those which can be ground up and snuck in your soup or sugar packet leaving you with some really unpleasant hours before you death, these plants are not to be messed with.
Violent plants come in two forms, those which actively kill prey and those which can be used to kill if the situation is right. In the former category, the carnivorous plants survive on trapping their next meal, be it a tadpole, like the common bladderwort, a small rodent, like the giant pitcher plant, or just an insect, like the venus fly trap.
In the other category, poisonous plants, the ones that could easily be slipped into your food or eaten by an animal you then eat, are much more common than many of us want to believe. Between the caster oil plant, which produces the highly toxic ricin, the little apple of death, which simply brushing up against will mess you up bad, and oleander, which though will put you in a coma before you know it is probably growing somewhere in your neighborhood, these plants prove that they don't need bladders or traps to be terribly violent.
So the next time you see your dog munching on the neighbor's flowers or see your kid bring you the most beautiful plant you've ever seen, keep in mind that these gorgeous plants might just be one of the world's most violent plants.
http://www.ranker.com/list/world-and-_39_s-most-violent-plants/robert-wabash,
Cicuta Douglasii - Western Water Hemlock
This perennial, which can grow and adapt to live in various wet climates, has few redeeming qualities and fewer practical uses. Cicutoxin can be found in the plant's roots and while it's extremely yummy for animals ingestion of under 1% of body weight can lead to death within minutes. It's equally as awful for humans with the Cicutoxin attacking the central nervous system causing frothing at the mouth, incoordination, tremors, seizures, respiratory failure and death!
Drosera Glanduligera - Pimpernel Sundew
Native to Australia, this scary looking threat doesn't just trap and consume it's prey, using a highly unique combination of flypaper and snap traps, but also has the ability to regenerate itself should one of its tentacles be broken. So not only will it make insects and other prey stick to itself, but also catapult those yummy meals into the center of the plant for digestion.
Hippomane Mancinella - Little Apple of Death
Though this killer plant doesn't have any scary traps of mechanisms to trap prey, it will, and quite easily, kill you, just for coming close to it. Brush up against this beast and enjoy a horrible allergic skin infection. Ingest one of the delicious apples and you can find yourself the proud new owner of nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and seizures, that is if one of the tree's many toxins don't kill you first.
Dionaea Muscipula - Venus Fly Trap
Commonly found on the East Coast of the United States, this killer plant looks as dangerous as it is. Featuring leaves filled with tiny little hairs, the Venus fly trap uses those hairs to detect prey, like insects and spiders, then closes its leaves around these tasty treats to trap them, just as its name suggests.
Darlingtonia Californica - Cobra Lily
Though pretty rare, this beast is called a cobra lily because it looks like a freakin' snake, complete with fangs and a tongue. To make things worse, this carnivorous plant features lubricated pitchers to trap, confuse and digest insects. Oh yeah, and don't even think about killing this killer plant with fire as it can regenerate its roots after a fire and grow again.
Nepenthes Attenboroughii - Giant Pitcher Plant
Named after Sir David Attenborough, this large pitcher plant features a distinctive bell shape filled with fluid and upright lid, all of which is perfect to trap, drown and kill insects and small rodents. While the jury is still out on whether this carnivorous plant actually does eat rodents, any plant with the capability to consume small animals, a capability this one has, is scary enough.
Utricularia Macrorhiza - Common Bladderwort
Native to North America and Eastern Asia, the Utricularia macrorhiza or common bladderwort, survives on a balanced diet of tadpoles and crustaceans, both of which it murders as they are passing by in the water. The plant features a bunch of submerged bladders that can detect the motion of a nearby meal then grab said prey to capture it and cause it to suffocate inside the bladder. Definitely not the best way to die, if you're a tadpole.
Cephalotus Follicularis - Australian Pitcher Plant
This plant, which is as ugly as it is dangerous, looks like a pile of moccasins (and affectionately called the moccasin plant) but don't go sticking your feet in this killer. The Cephalotus follicularis has several small pitchers complete with spikes to trap and drown any prey that is unfortunate enough to crawl inside. If that wasn't enough, it also has clear cells inside which confuse victims while they are being digested.
Nerium Oleander - Oleander Flower
You know those gorgeous pink flowers that the green thumb down the street grows? For the love of god, don't eat them or let your animals eat them! This extremely common garden beauty contains a handful of toxins which for humans and animals can cause nausea, a racing heart rate, excess salivation, poor circulation, seizures, coma and death. Basically, eat these pretty flowers and your body self-destructs around you.
Ricinus Communis - Castor Oil Plant
Found in various varieties all over the world (maybe even in your backyard), the caster oil plant has a ton of really great uses, like producing a component for making caster oil and making this really nifty toxin called ricin. "Breaking Bad" fans will know all about ricin but for those out of the loop, just a tiny amount of this powder is lethal, that is after maybe a week of horrible nausea, diarrhea and seizures. Not fun!