You should never plant a sandbox tree. It is too dangerous to have around people or animals, and when planted in isolated areas it is likely to spread.
Why is it that a warning about this murderous tree makes me want to plant a circle of them around my house? (Found via the Knuckledragger, thankee.)
Seriously: who needs those loud, messy (and illegal) Claymore thingies when you can get Mother Nature to provide this little party?
Sandbox tree fruits look like little pumpkins, but once they dry into seed capsules, they become ticking time bombs. When fully mature, they explode with a loud bang and fling their hard, flattened seeds at speeds of up to 150 miles per hour and distances of over 60 feet. The shrapnel can seriously injure any person or animal in its path. As bad as this is, the exploding seed pods are only one of the ways that a sandbox tree can inflict harm.
They even look badass:
Is it just me, or does this look like a spiked collar around the neck of an angry Rottweiler? It speaks to me, and what it says is: “Mess with me, motherfucker, and I will kill you.”
Want.
Afterthought: in the interests of Saving Mother Gaia, we should plant a ten-mile deep line of these bad boys along our southern border; I mean, who can be against reforestation?
Never heard of it before but, I’ll order 4 dozen right now, to start. Where do I input my number?
Plant them on the Mexican side of the border. 10 miles deep sounds about right.
Now there is a bonsai project worthy of a man.
“The tree can only grow in frost-free areas similar to U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 10 and 11.”
Bummer. Can’t plant them here in Colorado.
Keep reading in the article, and it gets even better for use in a perimeter forest:
“The fruit of the sandbox tree is poisonous, causing vomiting, diarrhea and cramps if ingested. The tree sap is said to cause an angry red rash, and it can blind you if it gets in your eyes. It has been used to make poison darts.”
If I lived in a frost-free zone (I don’t), I would be tempted.
When I was a boy, the experts were touting multiflora rose as a hedgerow plant. Now it’s considered invasive, unless you are raising goats.