Please meet the Gympie-Gympie plant, aka the Suicide Plant. So called because its toxins are so powerful that people have killed themselves rather than endure the pain any longer. The effects can last for years. You don’t even have to touch it – just breathing near it can screw up your lungs and cause nosebleeds.
What if the PLANTS joined in too? It’s not just the fauna you know.
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Masochist alert at 6:30.
Holy Shit.
A 25 metre high stinging machine that makes the Giant Hogweed look like an Ox-eye Daisy?
Moutet, Moutet, Moutet!
Scary as it is it’s not 25 metres, only 3 metres and a bit. Still wouldn’t like to bump into it though.
It’s the stinging tree that’s higher than my house:
Ah I see now it’s just the article that said 10 feet.
This article says ten metres.
https://www.discoverwildlife.com/plant-facts/stinging-tree
Here’s the botanist in the screenshot, saying the one she’s looking at is the biggest specimen she’s ever seen, and estimating 25 metres hight!
Yes I did watch it and saw that part. There’s seems to be some difference between the size.
“The devil’s toilet paper”, arf…..
I thought that was Izal Medicated.
Now available in Northumberland for those who fancy their near-death experiences closer to home. Let’s hope it doesn’t escape into the wild.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-66101616
Many years from now, in the Northumberland hills, a future explorer may find the mighty Gympie in a derelict botanical garden and set it free.
The Day of the Gympies.
I saw one at the side of the road in the Daintree Rainforest, on a day trip from Cairns to Cape Tribulation.
The jeep driver stopped to point it out, but wouldn’t open the doors or windows.
So glad I have that massive tank of Roundup in the shed.
They are reasonably common around here. I was stung on the arm by one a few years ago while spraying lantana on my block. It feels like a splash of boiling water and creates an odd hypersensitive sensation on the skin where a slight touch reignites it. I did multiple cycles of sticking gaffers tape to the skin and pulling it off to remove the little hairs/tubes, and that worked well. Within a few days it was OK.
Mrs thep worked on signage for QLD National Parks until a few months ago. She knew about the Stinging Tree, but had no idea Gympie-Gympie even existed. It’s a rainforest plant, so presumably common in national parks. I gently suggested that she tell her former colleagues that a bit of signage might not go amiss.
How about issuing her colleagues with some of these: