Numinous fruit 1
“Just as man himself has an ambivalent potential for good and evil, so do objects. According to numerous informants, the most dangerous and poisonous substance is a simple lime, properly prepared by the bokor. If a bokor cuts a lime transversely while it is still on the tree, the half that remains on the limb overnight becomes the most virulent of poisons, more deadly even ‘than the three drops of liquid that issue from a dead person’s mouth.’ The other half, taken into the temple, becomes its equally potent antidote. The lesson is clear. The lime that is left on the tree remains in the realm of nature — uncivilized, threatening, poisonous. The other half, taken into the abode of the religious sanctuary, is tamed and humanized, and thus becomes profoundly curative.”
p. 52, footnote, “Passage of Darkness, the Ethnobiology of the Haitian Zombie”, by Wade Davis