“Fruit of the Doomed”: Scientists Discover Amazon Tree Species Linked to Zombification

By Bulletin Staff

Scientists working in the Amazon have discovered a tree species that bears a fruit which they believe causes zombification in humans, according to an article in the latest issue of The Journal of Botany and Zombies.

Researchers working in Brazil’s remote Vale do Javari region used DNA sequencing to identify the tree as a previously unknown species. They dubbed it Strychnos nux zombica, or simply “zombie tree” (“árvore zumbi” in Portuguese).

Nux zombica grows to about 15 meters (about 50 feet) and produces small, dark yellow flowers. Like its cousin, the strychnine tree, zombie tree’s flowers bloom in the cooler seasons and produce a markedly noxious smell. The tree’s fruit is the size and color of a small peach. Beneath a thin skin, the flesh of the fruit is soft and juicy, like a watermelon, with a single hard ovular seed at the center.

The fruit is a food source for monkeys native to Vale do Javari, but the researchers report, based on a chemical analysis, that the fruit would be highly poisonous for humans, with potential complications including high fever, vomiting, coma and even death in any person unlucky enough to ingest the fruit.

However, the real danger of the nux zombica‘s fruit lies in a specific enzyme found in the pulp that appears to carry a strain of the zombie virus, which the researchers identified using gene sequencing techniques.

When introduced into a person’s blood stream, the research team believes that the virus would cause zombification over a period of several hours. This could occur if the blood is exposed to the fruit’s pulp through a cut or abrasion, or following ingestion of the uncooked fruit if the subject is suffering from bleeding in the stomach.

Plant-to-human viral transmission has been thought to be highly rare, if not virtually impossible. However, the researchers speculate that in this case nux zombica has evolved to be a carrier of this strain of the zombie virus while maintaining an immunity to the virus’ effects.

The zombie tree is endemic to a very small valley region in the Vale do Javari, with a total habitat of approximately 20 square kilometers (about 7.7 square miles).

The Brazilian government restricts access to the Vale do Javari to protect its natural resources and the isolated indigenous groups that inhabit the area, many of which have had little or no contact with visitors from the outside.

In their journal article, the research team writes that they gained special authorization to study the plant life within the nux zombica‘s habitat following a 2022 zombie outbreak at a nearby illegal logging camp that claimed more than 200 lives.

Brazilian authorities suspect, based on testimony from the handful of survivors of the outbreak, that one or more of the loggers ate an uncooked zombie tree fruit, fell ill and turned, then set upon others in the camp, quickly decimating the entire illegal operation.

The authorities also have not ruled out the possibility that one of the local indigenous groups attacked the loggers using arrows or darts dipped in zombie tree fruit, similar to the way that secretions from poison dart frogs are used to poison the tips of darts.

In either case, the Brazilian government was forced to send in troops to clear the camp and put down the undead loggers. The few survivors are being held on charges related to the illegal operation.

In the wake of the research team’s findings, Brazil has completely closed off access entirely to the nux zombica‘s habitat zone and reportedly is studying options for clear-cutting the area to destroy all the zombie trees, prompting protests from the science and environmental communities.

The article is “Fruit of the Doomed: The Amazon’s Deadly Zombie Tree” in the Winter issue of The Journal of Botany and Zombies.

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