What Rainforest Plants Are Bad for You?

The Amazon rainforest contains more than 40,000 different plants. Many others reside in rainforests around the world, from Northern Australia to the jungles of Hawaii. Many of these tropical plants are useful, but others can harm the human body.

Strychnos (Curare)

• The bark of this tropical species of liana (Strychnos toxifera) was used to make curare, a poison Amazonian Indians used on their arrows to kill animals. They made a resinous liquid, applied it to arrowheads and shot prey with it. This substance is only harmful when it contacts the blood, so casual contact with it is harmless.

Stinging Tree

• In Australian rainforests, the Gympie-Gympie tree has poisonous hairs on heart-shaped leaves: they can puncture the skin, causing serious irritations. Even two months after contact, these hairs can continue to cause pain.

Hawaiian Poppy

• The pua kala, or Argemone glauca, is native to Hawaii and related to the opium poppy. Its alkaloids irritate the stomach and intestines. The book "Poisonous Plants of Paradise" states that when mice ate the extract, they went into a deep sleep, while higher concentrations caused seizures and eventual death.