Book series with terraforming crew and ecstasy trees

Question

Read this is the ‘80s. I think I read 2 in the series, not sure if there were more (or if my memory is correct).

The protagonist crew was sent first to survey and terraform planets before the real civilians would show up. One outstanding detail was a tree that would grab and inject victims with a chemical that gave them bliss while it sucked all the nutrients out of them which were referred to as ecstasy trees.

Probably also some giant worms in a 'stampede' that have a brain in each end.

And exoskeletons for the crew.

Answer 1

This sounds like The Expendables Series by Richard Avery (Edmund Cooper), about 4 books I think.

The Deathworms of Kratos, The Rings of Tantalus, The War Games of Zelos, The Venom of Argus

There was also a story about the survey team meeting a human like civilisation at what appeared to be the early Viking(?) level of development. The captain of the crew had a bionic arm and the crew had exoskeletons.

Goodreads has this to say:

Hundreds of years in the future, humans have conquered faster than light (FTL) space travel and matter transmission over vast distances. These discoveries open up alien worlds for colonization. But both methods require humans to travel in suspended animation. Teams are sent via FTL starships to remote worlds to prove them for human habitation. Each team is composed of seven rugged, highly trained individuals who, for one reason or another, have violated society’s rules or have otherwise proven…expendable.