Australians might be surprised to hear that many visiting travellers perceive the country as dangerous … a landscape teeming with deadly snakes and spiders and surrounded by crocodiles, sharks and jellyfish, but what of its floral dangers?
Gympie Gympie (Dendrocnide moroides) is arguably the world’s most painful plant. Covered with hypodermic hairs on its leaves and stems, it can inject poison that causes extreme pain.
It grows most virulently in damaged rainforest along Australia’s north-east coast. Its seeds remain dormant in the soil beneath a dark understory, until germinated by exposure to intensified sunlight, such as when a rainforest tree collapses. It is found most frequently as a single-stemmed plant, 1-2 metres high. Its large, long-stalked, alternate leaves are broadly heart-shaped (∼30 x 22 cm) with serrated margins. The central vein stops short of the periphery, terminating with the stalk attachment, on the underside of the leaf. Its mulberry-like, bright pink to purple fruits are borne upon axillary stalks on female plants.
Contact with human skin can cause extreme pain, starting as a rapidly intensifying burning sensation. The pain may persist for days, but upon exposure to cold air, water or when rubbed, the pain can be reinvigorated for up to two months or more, beyond the original sting.
Jennifer Marohasy BSc PhD is a critical thinker with expertise in the scientific method.
Just the thing to wipe El Creepo’s ass with.
Amazing – before I scrolled down I thought -could throw Mottsa in a patch. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA classic. Mutually assured genital destruction.
But you’d have to get Motty out of the vehicle. ROTFL.
Hey Neil – I really enjoy your posts – don’t feel my lack of response doesn’t mean I don’t look. But you can’t argue with great biology so one can only just admire and sigh.
(great biology – as long as you keep Mottsa chain saw wielding, throat attacking, land clearing loving, old growth wrecking, synthetic nest box advocating, wilderness eschewing, types at bay). (bait bait bait).
BTW Neil – the plants you see around SEQ – Cunningham’s Gap, Tweed Range Nat Pk (for when I nip down the back way to spy on Motty and hammer nails in his trees – just kidding) – the plant leaves seem tattered /eaten. Is it just wind damage /age or does some insect manage to have a go at them?
El Creepo,
Many things eat these plants, beetles, caterpillars, even marsupials (red-legged pademelons). One of its most extraordinary features is its apparent intolerance of introduced mammals.
Incidentally, I have heard that Australian soldiers in WWII PNG recommended the velvety leaves to the US soldiers as the best bog-wrap.
Is th’ fruit edible?…..
Neil,
I have only experimented involuntarily but the young plants seem much more painful than the old holey ones.
When I’m suffering in agony and rub myself with cunjevoi juice I have to keep telling myself its working.
And Luke, it only happens when I’m doing something stupid like trying to regen rf or fauna surveys.
Neil, I wish you’d told me about these around 35 years ago.
In the early 70s, in my yachty bum period, I had a wander around Henning Island, a beautiful little island on the eastern side of Whitsunday Passage. I grabbed the 2 inch diameter trunk of a Gympie Gympie sapling, as I climbed down into a gully.
After three days the extreme pain was diminishing somewhat, except when I had to pull up the anchor. A tight grip on a wet chain was the perfect reinvigorater.
It was a month before up anchoring was just a bit of a pain, & 2 months before my hand was back to normal.
Knowing how painful it can be on the hard hand of a full time sailor, I’m glad I was wearing a thick, long sleeved shirt.
Neil: “Australians might be surprised to hear that many visiting travellers perceive the country as dangerous … a landscape teeming with deadly snakes and spiders and surrounded by crocodiles, sharks and jellyfish, but what of its floral dangers?”
I’m not surprised at all I’ve invited several foreign visitors to go hiking with me I got they all were quite happy to drive around and see the sights but go into the bush – no way. Except one she remains a regular companion on my forays into to the wild.
I’ll certainly keep a lookout for that plant and give it a wide berth. Thanks for the post.
J.Hansford.,
> Is th’ fruit edible?…..
According to Les Hiddens (the ‘bush-tucker man’), yes … but then again … why would anyone try?
Creepo is feeling his oats. How is it different to the large stinging tree?
That is an interesting plant, and I have never heard of it before. It would be a candidate for herbicide treatment if it grew in my neighborhood. I have a hard enough time getting rid of poison ivy, which isn’t as bad. I’m curious if this plant affects everyone the same way or if some people are immune to its effects, like many are with poison ivy.
Ian,
I think the Dendrocnide in SEQ is the excelsa and it is the giant stinging tree but you get all of these young suckers when a hole appears in the canopy. The young ones seem to be the worst stingers.
I don’t know the difference between the excelsa and the moroides but they are both referred to as Gympie Gympie.
Woodie,
I,ve never known or heard of anyone who was immune.
There is a plant that always seems to grow nearby called cunjevoi [which is also said to be poisonous] which is supposed to have been used by wood cutters as an antidote.
I think it is more of a placebo for when you’re desperate.
Answer Motty – they’re purple too after having been kicked by greens, browns, managerial types and Feds.
Neil,
I had been watching custard heads eating native indigo [Indigo australis] seeds and gave it a try. After about a year of enjoying random chewings I was told they were poisonous but they tasted ok.
This reminds me of the story of American explorer David Fairchild, who was in a forest in the Philippines and experienced first hand a cousin of this plant– a species in the genus Laportea. Same nettle family, same principle. He described the pain as tremendous, whereupon his guide said “You should see the really nasty one!” He also mentions one of these having very attractive leaves with orange veins.
Besides nettle relatives, in the New World we have the genus Cnidoscolus in the Euphorbia family. One is called “mala mujer” (bad woman) and they certainly rival your gympie gympie. The actionable prickles are literally little hypodermic needles with irritant *under pressure* ready to go at a light brush. My favorite is C. egregia.