excelsa. Known colloquially as the
Dendrocnide moroides, commonly known in Australia as the stinging tree, stinging bush, Queensland Stinger or gympie-gympie, is a plant in the nettle family Urticaceae found in rainforest areas of Malaysia and Australia. It is notorious for its extremely painful and long-lasting sting.
Known as Gympie-gympie in Australia and salat in Papua New Guinea, contact with this leaf can result in human death, more often extreme pain that can last for months. Stinging hairs deliver a potent neurotoxin when touched.
The leafy bush has heart-shaped foliage and while it appears harmless, it is fatal. It can grow up to 15 feet but most commonly grows to around 3 feet. Why is the plant so dangerous? Gympie-Gympie is covered with hair-like stinging needles, which contain a powerful neurotoxin.
Gympie-Gympie is a relatively harmless looking plant... until you touch it. The plant has a sting that feels like being burnt with hot acid and electrocuted at the same time, and often drives people in agony to kill themselves and is thus also called the "suicide plant".
Gympie Gympie
Even the lightest touch can leave victims suffering for weeks, if not months at a time. Infamously known as the most venomous plant in Australia, contact with Gympie Gympie will cause immediate and severe burning that intensifies in just 20 to 30 minutes.
In the forests of eastern Australia there are a handful of nettle trees so noxious that signs are commonly placed where humans trample through their habitat. These trees are called gympie-gympie in the language of the Indigenous Gubbi Gubbi people, and Dendrocnide in botanical Latin (meaning “tree stinger”).
The agony caused by brushing against the notorious Gympie-Gympie tree can last for weeks, even months, but researchers hope its toxins may one day be converted to provide non-opioid pain relief without harmful side effects.
Dendrocnide moroides, commonly known as the stinging tree, stinging bush, Queensland Stinger or the gympie-gympie, is notorious for an extremely painful sting that can leave victims suffering for weeks, or even months.
Humans can eat the juicy fruit of the gympie-gympie, but only if they have taken the time to properly and painstakingly remove every one of its hairs.
While the scream of the mandrake is mere legend, scientists have now discovered that plants do indeed emit screams when they are cut or are dehydrated. And unlike the mandrake's scream, which was believed to be fatal, the sounds that come out of plants when they suffer can only be heard by some animals and insects.
Poppies have been a source of pain relief for centuries. The Egyptians chewed poppy seeds to reduce pain, and the seeds of Papaver somniferum before the poppy is ripe do contain pain relieving alkaloids. The sap can be turned into opium, or combined with alcohol to make laudanum, or turned into morphine, or codeine.
The flowers of Spilanthes have earned it the name “toothache plant” for their numbing and pain-relieving effects. Spilanthes has also been noted to stimulate taste and improve saliva flow.
One of the world's most venomous plants, the Gympie-Gympie stinging tree can cause months of excruciating pain for unsuspecting humans.
Belladonna. Its name might mean “beautiful woman” in Italian, but this decorative shrub—also known as deadly nightshade—is quite the femme fatale. Ingesting any part of it can cause hallucinations and convulsions, and one leaf of the herbaceous plant—one of the deadliest on Earth—can readily slay an adult.
Photo of a gympie-gympie plant. If you get stung follow this advice: the most important thing is that you do not rub the area, as this can break off the hairs and make them very difficult to remove. remove visible hairs with tweezers.
Distribution. From north Queensland, where it is fairly common, south to the Clarence River in north-east NSW. It is very rare in the southern-most part of its range.
They aren't illegal. But due to the fear of invasive pests effecting citrus that is gown in Texas many out of state citrus plants cannot be imported.
At the moment, there is no antidote for a gympie sting. Doctors advise victims not to rub the stung area since this can break the hairs even more causing them to spread further in the skin. Pouring a 1:10 solution of diluted hydrochloric acid over the sting can also help a bit with the pain.
Known colloquially as the gympie gympie (from the Gubbi Gubbi/ Kabi Kabi name for the plant, gimpi gimpi), gympie stinger, and giant stinging tree (D. excelsa), this plant has the dubious honour of being arguably the most painful plant in the world.
Stories abound of gympie-gympie's notorious side effects. Stung horses have been known to die within hours. One man was purported to have shot himself to end his pain after inadvertently using the leaves as toilet paper. Even inhaling floating hairs can cause sneezing, rashes, and nosebleeds.
Florida home to world's 'most dangerous' tree
The manchineel tree (Hippomane mancinella), according to the Guinness World Records, is the world's most dangerous tree. Located in the Florida Everglades and the Caribbean coast, the manchineel tree should be avoided by anyone that comes near it.
The Manchineel Florida tree was ranked the deadliest tree in the world by the Guinness World Records in 2011. Every part of the plant is poisonous, and the poison can easily get to humans without eating or touching the plant. Standing under a tree in a rain storm could transfer the poison to the body.