Highly poisonous fruits blobs are washing up on Texas beaches after traveling thousands of miles
Strange box fruits from Caribbean wash ashore in Texas
- Strange “box fruits”, described as softball-sized, cube-like, and spongy, are washing up on Texas shores, having likely drifted from Caribbean Islands where the Indo-Pacific native Barringtonia asiatica tree is planted.
- These fruits are poisonous, containing toxic chemicals that can cause a coma or organ damage if ingested, prompting warnings for beachgoers.
- Historically, island cultures used the crushed fruits to stun fish in shallow waters, leading to the tree's alternative name, “fish poison tree”.
- The fruits possess air pockets, enabling them to float for thousands of miles and historically serving as natural flotation devices for fishing nets.
- In traditional medicine, the seeds had been used to get rid of intestinal worms, Hawaii’s National Tropical Botanical Garden notes.