This plant will become the bane of your existence.
A poisonous plant called “baneberry” is causing alarm from park rangers, who are urging the public not to consume the poisonous vegetation.
“Is that plant looking at me?” The National Park Service wrote Facebook This week with a photo of a white baneberry plant, whose fruits resemble eyeballs.
“Actaea pachypoda, the white baneberry or doll’s eye, is a species of flowering plant in the Ranunculaceae family,” the agency said.
“The most striking feature of the plant is its fruit, a 1 cm diameter white berry whose size, shape and black stigma give the species the name ‘doll’s eyes’.”
The organization quipped, “Did you just blink?”
While birds can eat the slimy berries – “unaffected by toxins or creepy eyeball beauty” – the plant is poisonous to humans and can result in nausea, vomiting, stomach cramps and delirium. death is rareBut this is possible if consumed in large amounts, and the berries pose a risk, especially to children and pets.
One Facebook user quipped, “I have to say that if there was ever a plant I wouldn’t even touch, let alone eat, it would be this one.”
“This plant just screams ‘Don’t eat me!’ Why any human being would think such a strange thing would be delicious is beyond me,” said another.
“As if the eyeballs weren’t enough, they all have red ‘optic nerves’ connecting them together,” someone else said, making a face. “Nightmare.”
plant grows mainly In the US it grows in areas of woodland, as well as in fields or roadsides, and usually ripens in during mid to late summer,
White baneberry plants have given the botanical the nickname “doll’s eyes”, but baneberries can also have bright red bulbs.
While the scary advice comes just in time for spooky season, the TikTok botanist has been attempting to educate the public about the toxicity of the fruit for some time.
Forager and chef Alexis Nicolay has called the plant “the scariest plant in North America.”
“They look like they’re harboring a curse,” she said a tiktok videoTo which one viewer commented, “Why is he looking at me.”
