Gympie Gympie: Most Dangerous Plant in the World? one touch of a Gympie plant sting will result in 9 months of throbbing pain
Dendrocnide moroides, also known as the Gympie-gympie plant, grows in Australia’s north-east rainforests. When dealing with nature, you must take extra care; as mentioned in the above note, one touch of a gympie plant sting will result in nine months of throbbing pain.
That’s the main reason why the Gympie plant considers as the most dangerous plant in the world.
The name “suicide plant” was given to it because it is the most poisonous species of Australian stinger ever discovered.
It has stinging hairs that cover the whole plant and emit a powerful neurotoxin when struck. This causes whitening and swelling, as well as soreness, at the sting location.
hiep phamcong / Flickr
People have mentioned the sting as feeling like they are being attacked by acid, electrified, or squeezed by huge hands, and it can last for months.
“It’s like being scorched by hot acid while also being electrocuted.” Marina Hurley, a botanist, describes what it’s like to touch a gympie gympie.
You are not required to touch it. The entire plant is covered in a fine fuzz of deadly needles, and the creatures shed like a cat in the summer. As a result, simply standing near them can sting you.
“The allergic reaction developed over time, causing extreme itching and huge hives that eventually required steroid treatment. At that point my doctor advised that I should have no further contact with the plant and I didn’t object” she said.
Credit: Marina Hurley.
There are several horror stories concerning the gympie gympie. Cyril Bromley, an ex-serviceman, fell into one of the plants during WWII training exercises and wound up tied to a hospital bed, “as furious as a cut snake.”
Bromley also shared the story of an officer who used a leaf as toilet paper without realizing it. He eventually shot himself.
Botanist Ernie Rider was hit in the face, arm, and chest in 1963, and he didn’t get out of agony until 1965.
Neil Ennis / Flickr
Many individuals have experienced pain flare-ups for years after being stung, and there are even reports of horses, furious by the pain, jumping from hills to their deaths.
The fruit of the Gympie plant, on the other hand, is edible if the stinging fur that covers it is removed. No one is going to risk their lives by eating an edible fruit, am I right?
If you’re more curious about amazing plants in nature, there’s a plant called Welwitschia; having only two leaves that never fall off and continue to grow forever.
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