TERRIBLE TREES
By ARTHUR MAHON WOODSTOCK, Ph.D.
You love to wander about in the forest, eh? Well, maybe you'll change your mind now . . .
IT IS part of American belief that trees are noble, beautiful creations of God, designed to grace this terrestrial sphere with magnificent grandeur and friendly shade. In the case of the lordly oak and the stately pine this conception is borne out; but in the case of numerous other trees it has scant application. For in various corners of the world exist aboreal perverts that neither beautify the terrain nor lend soothing shade to weary travelers. In fact they are dangerous, and in some cases actually fatal, to human beings.
Take for instance the "evel" tree peculiar to the semitropical regions of Mexico. Known as Arbol de la Mala Mujer (Tree of the Bad Woman) it is found chiefly in isolated, barren spots. The appearance of the tree is like something from Dante's Inferno. Twisted and blackened limbs spring from a stunted, contorted stump like the waving arms of Death. It supports no foliage, casts only a travesty of cool shade—and its touch it deadly.
The trees are labeled dangerous by the government, but occasionally an unwary tourist will make the mistake of touching one. The results are horrible. The tree secretes a virulent poison that has, in a number of cases, proved fatal. But if the victim doesn't die he is left with skin disease, fever, other ills from which he is unlikely to ever recover completely.
Another vicious tree is the "dynamite tree." Fortunately there is only one of this rare species in existence today. It grows in the yard of a native home in Cuernavaca, where it is given a wide berth by members of the family. The government has a prominent sign displayed on this tree to prevent tourists from venturing too close to it.
For the "dynamite tree" produces a gourd about the size of a large melon and these have the frightening habit of exploding suddenly and violently when ripe. The blast can be heard for hundreds of feet, and anyone within range of the scattering fragments may be badly scarred. If the forests of France were composed of this species, the Germans would have received the shock of their life when they pushed through them.
Carnivorous trees peculiar to Africa have been known to wrap their fatal tentacles about animals as large as deer and zebra and crush the life from them.
So considering the many vicious trees which exist from one corner of the world to the other, it is easier to understand the superstition of the woodsmen in the German and Austrian forests, who secretly ask the forgiveness of a tree before they chop it down. And the Dutch Sumatrans who placate the unfriendly spirits that lodge in the trees they have been ordered to cut down, by apologizing and explaining to the tree:
"Spirit who lodgest in this tree, take it not ill that I cut down thy dwelling, for it is done at no wish of mine, but at the order of the Controller."
They're taking no chances and we don't blame them.
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