Deadliest plant

Based on human lives claimed, the world's most deadly plant is undoubtedly tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum). According to 2025 World Health Organization data, more than 7 million tobacco users die prematurely per annum. Tobacco smoke contains thousands of chemicals including those known to cause cancer and other harmful effects. The addictive component of tobacco is nicotine, an alkaloid chemical that occurs in the plant.

Tobacco is most used as a recreational drug by smoking it as cigarettes, but it is also used in the form of cigars, cigarillos, in pipes, and as smokeless tobacco products such as snuff.

Of the annual deaths attributed to tobacco, around 1.6 million deaths (almost a quarter) are non-smokers who have been passively exposed to tobacco smoke, as inhaling tobacco can still result in heart disease and lung cancer.