Widow maker (Collospermum hastaum)

Waipoua forest, New Zealand. Dec 31, 2016.

Plants can grow into large and very heavy masses which are frequently perched on branches high up in tall trees. Those masses often fall to the ground and continue to grow there. It is because of the potential danger posed to humans by such a falling mass that Collospermum hastatum was known to men working in New Zealand forests in years past as the “Widow Maker”.