Gympie gympie
Dendrocnide moroides, the gympie gympie, or gympie stinger, is a plant of rainforest areas in the north east of Australia. It is also found in Indonesia. It has stinging hairs over the whole plant. It delivers a strong neurotoxin when touched. The small bulb on the tip of the stinging hairs break off and penetrating the skin, injecting the toxin.[1] It is the most toxic of the Australian stinging trees. The fruit can be eaten if the stinging hairs that cover it are removed.[2]
Ernie Rider, who was slapped in the face and torso with the foliage in 1963, said:
For two or three days the pain was almost unbearable; I couldn’t work or sleep, then it was pretty bad pain for another fortnight or so. The stinging persisted for two years and recurred every time I had a cold shower. ... There's nothing to rival it; it's ten times worse than anything else.[3]
The sting does not stop several small marsupial species (such as the red-legged pademelon, some insects, such as Prasyptera mastersi,[1] and some birds, from eating the leaves.
Gympie Gympie Media
AULakeEuchamDendrocnide moroides
Small plant at Crystal Cascades near Cairns, Queensland, June 2021
Trichome of the stinging nettle Urtica dioica, similar in basic design to those of D. moroides
Mature shrub around 3 metres tall
Gympie Gympie
Stinging Tree (Dendrocnide moroides)
Detail showing stinging hairs
Fruits and leaves of Dendrocnide moroides, the gympie-gympie or stinging tree. Crystal Cascades, near Cairns, Queensland, June 2021
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References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Hurley, Marina. "'The worst kind of pain you can imagine' – what it's like to be stung by a stinging tree". The Conversation. Retrieved 2020-03-08.
- ↑ "Is It Edible? – An introduction to Australian Bush Tucker". ACS Distance Education. Archived from the original on March 15, 2014. Retrieved 15 March 2014.
- ↑ Once stung, never forgotten. [1]