Imagine walking down a beautiful tropical beach. You spot a fruit on the sand, like a plum or small ripe apple. It smells sweet, so you wash it in the water and you’re about to take a bite…

But wait! You may have in your hand a Death Apple, the fruit of the manchineel, a tree that’s relatively common to the tropical beaches of the Americas.

Despite its good looks, the manchineel is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the most dangerous tree in the world. Every part of it is highly toxic.

The juice of its fruit, had you eaten it, damages the entire digestive tract. It burns the throat and causes it to swell dangerously, and produces severe abdominal pain, vomiting, and bleeding that can lead to fatal dehydration.

Its sap is even worse. A single drop can burn the skin and blind the eyes. And it’s water soluble. Rainwater dripping off the tree can cause painful welts or burn the paint off a car. Breathing air laced with the sap after a rain or smoke when the wood is burned can asphyxiate.

And if the sap reaches the bloodstream, it can kill. Ponce de León, the famous explorer, is thought to have died from a native arrow dipped in the sap of the Manchineel.

Habitat loss and efforts to eradicate it are reducing the manchineel’s numbers. But, if you’re on a Caribbean or Central American beach and see trees with red markers on the trunks, be sure to give them a very wide berth.

The Death Apple is truly forbidden fruit.