apple of Sodom

Noun

apple of Sodom (plural apples of Sodom)

1. (medieval mythology) A gigantic tree supposed to have grown on the site of the destroyed cities Sodom and Gomorrah (see Genesis 18–19 in the Bible), the apples of which would turn to ash and smoke once picked.
   • We searched for the famous apple of Sodom, and found two kinds of fruit, either of which, with the help of a little poetic imagination, might pass for the fruit in question. […] The other fruit, which we observed, and which seems to me more like the apple in question, grows around Jericho. It looks...1824 May, “Palestine Mission”, in The Latter Day Luminary (New Series), volume V, number V, Washington, D.C.: Printed and published by John S[ilva] Meehan, Columbian Office, North E Street, →OCLC...
   • The late adventurous traveller, M. [Ulrich Jasper] Seetzen, who went round the Red Sea, notices the famous apple of Sodom; of which report stated that it had all the appearance of the most inviting apple; but was filled with nauseous and bitter dust only.1830, Antoine Augustin Calmet, Charles Taylor, “Asphaltites”, in Calmet's Dictionary of the Holy Bible, with the Biblical Fragments, … In Five Volumes, 5th rev. and enlarged edition, volume I...
2. (medieval mythology) The fruit of the mythical tree.
   • Men have tasted of the apples of Sodom, and they have found bitter ashes under an inviting and luscious surface.1834 September, “The Influence of the Press [L'Autocratie de la Presse, 8vo. La Haye: May, 1834]”, in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, volume XXXVI, number CCXXVI, Edinburgh: William Blackwood and...
   • Then in rapid succession there came into my mind memories of: the apple that William Tell is said to have shot off the head of his son; "apples of gold in pitchers of silver" mentioned in the Bible; the "apple of Sodom," the fruit of the osher tree, which is beautiful externally but filled with a...1913, W[illiam] R[ichard] C[unningham] Latson, “Association of Ideas”, in Secrets of Mental Supremacy, Holyoke, Mass.: The Elizabeth Towne Co., →OCLC, pages 71–72
3. Any of various plants, often bearing bitter or poisonous fruit.
   • A particularly dangerous plant, and one that may cause confusion, is the apple of Sodom, a low, prickly bush with a tomatolike fruit that is highly poisonous.1997, Richard McMahon, “The Outdoor Environment and the Camper”, in Camping Hawai‛i: A Complete Guide, rev. edition, Honolulu, Hi.: University of Hawai‛i Press, →ISBN, page 14
   1. A mudar (Calotropis procera), a flowering plant, found from northern Africa to southeast Asia, which bears poisonous fruit.
   2. A bitter apple, colocynth, etc. (Citrullus colocynthis), a desert plant native to Asia and the Mediterranean Basin with extremely bitter flesh.
   3. A forest bitterberry (Solanum anguivi), a plant native to non-arid parts of Africa.
   4. A Carolina horsenettle (Solanum carolinense), a plant native to North America.
   5. A bitter apple, bitterball, or bitter tomato (Solanum incanum), a plant native to sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, and India.
   6. A black spine nightshade or devil's apple (Solanum linnaeanum), a plant native to southern Africa that bears poisonous berries.
   7. A nipplefruit (Solanum mammosum), a plant native to South America.