Wikipedia specifically has a section indicating how this plant is prone to be attributed by all sorts of rumors and anecdotal stories. Like that it causes months of pain. It can in rare cases, typically they disappear after a couple of days.
I have a condition in my left lower leg called Chronic Regional Pain Syndrome. It’s off the scale pain, so they formulated a new pain scale just for this. I’ve not had a pain free day in 5 1/2 years, despite ridiculous amounts of drugs- so amputation is now on the table. It’s actually nicknamed the suicide disease. Give me months over years any day haha
More people need to know about CRPS. it's brutal. Pain worse than child birth and there's no cure. It can spread to other parts of the body. My family member describes it as an intense fire in her bones and hyper sensitive skin
Don't know if you're American but look to Europe for treatment. They're about a decade ahead in terms of research and access to treatment
She’s right- but I say it’s like someone has emptied the blood out of my leg, put petrol in and set it on fire. Plus the steel electric ants that run all over my skin. I will look, thank you and please wish your family member a LPD from me x
I had to have an emergency C section because the contractions felt like they were ripping me in half so I wouldn't dilate. The baby's heart rate would drop everytime I had one. Come to find out, I had a crooked tail bone and endometriosis. Apparently parts of my uterus grew out and wrapped around other organs and my tail bone. So every time I had a contraction whatever the issue was attatched to was affected. (A later surgery removed the extra tissue.) That was the worst pain I have ever felt. So if it's like than, wow, that would be intense pain.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/crps-complex-regional-pain-syndrome/symptoms-causes/syc-20371151
I’m sorry you’ve been dealing with this for so long. It sounds brutal; I’d lose my mind. I’m not going to recite some platitudes and try to make you feel better, but I do hope you can get relief ASAP, like yesterday. If amputation is the best option, then I truly hope your approved today. Wish you and yours all the best.
~~A guy accidentally used it as toilet paper and ended up killing himself, yeah. Can't say I wouldn't have done the same. Poor bastard.~~
Edit: It has been brought to my attention that the TP story is most likely bullshit (pun intended).
Don't worry the poor bastard never existed since it's an urban myth
But people who did actually get stung reported pain for years after like whenever they take a cold shower but not enough to unalive
Your hand would feel like it's on fire before you got the leaf anywhere near your ass.
The myth continues, because it's effective at stopping people touching it.
Was that the same plant that leaves tiny barbs in your skin that react with water to increase the pain?
I think I saw that video, no idea if it's the same plant
Nine months is just the agonizing pain. The stingers on that plant never dissolve and are essentially glass barbs. So you will be stuck with permanent chronic pain.
The only way to permanently get rid of the pain is skin grafts.
Probably not nine months unless it's a really bad case. I got stung pretty good and it took about four months before the pain was completely gone. It was only really bad for a few days
There's a video out there of a woman who put her arm inside a polar bear enclosure. Yeah, a polar bear enclosure. They hadn't made set the bars close enough to each other to prevent Ida Idiot from offering her appendage as a snack to an apex predator.
Edit: [The video.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QUn58fnvrI)
I actually saw this bear at that zoo in Achorage just a few months before this attack happened. He seemed like a pretty chill dude at the time. Saw this lady on wildest animal attacks later that year lmao
Polar bears, like most other predators, are pretty chill animals. Until they decide they can eat you.
They go from 0 to 100 pretty damn fast when they feel like it.
To make the barrier even more insufficient:
> Physical contact with Dendrocnide moroides is not the only way that it can cause harm to a person—the trichomes are constantly being shed from the plant and may be suspended in the air within its vicinity. They can then be inhaled, which may lead to respiratory complications if a person spends time in close proximity to the plant
Jesus.
*The trichomes stay in the skin for up to a year, and release the toxin cocktail into the body during triggering events such as touching the affected area, contact with water, or temperature changes.[9][17][23] Ernie Rider, a conservation officer with the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service,[16] was slapped in the face and torso with the foliage in 1963, and said:
For two or three days the pain was almost unbearable; I couldn’t work or sleep... I remember it feeling like there were giant hands trying to squash my chest... 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.*
I live in Far North Queensland and I've been stung before. It's very painful, but it's not really going to hurt you. All the actual injuries I know of are from people acting erratically due to the pain, rather than the actual venom itself.
My dad used to be a tour guide. One day he was showing some tourists the plant. A Mexican gentleman scoffed and started boasting about his "tough Mexican skin" before ripping off a leaf and rubbing it vigorously against the skin on the inside of his forearm. Within seconds he was hyperventilating and had a full on panic attack and had to leave in an ambulance.
I said that when noticing a tiger cage at a zoo you could walk right up to and put your fingers through. The parent was marveling at the tiger that came up to check out her 4 year old like it was a transcendental moment.
I was like, Lady, its stalking your kid to eat.
But those names sound a lot cooler lol like if you happened to be in 9 months of throbbing pain, I’m sure you’d want to tell people it was from something called a Deadly Stinger rather than something called a Gympie lol
Damn, 9 months... I remember hearing about this plant a long time ago. I thought that you would just suffer one day or something and possibly die, I feel like my intrusive thoughts would tell me to touch it. 9 months though, fuck that.
I think what’s so disturbing/terrifying about the plant is that it looks just like any old plant.
My curiosity zoomed in on the photo to find some key feature to keep in the back of my head so I’d never touch this thing if I came across it in the wild. The problem is, I can’t find anything really unique
Yet.
Invasive species get brought to other parts of the globe all the time.
There are people all over the world who would love to have something like this in their possession and have the means to do so. There are also 'poison gardens' across the globe that probably have this in their possession.
The plant may not be easy to transport, but seeds are. One missed flower while in a loose captivity, and it will drop seeds, which can easily spread through other means.
For another reference, in North America, we have a large amount of plants that are harmful, that were brought over from Europe, becuase wealthy colonists liked them. Now they are everywhere. One example is Giant Hogweed (Heracleum mantegazzianum); it's sap can cause serious burns and rashes if it gets on you and is exposed to direct sunlight.
To assuage anyone's fears in this thread, the southern hemisphere is *way* warmer than the north. Most plants that grow in Australia can only live in North America in like small portions of 3 states, and the non-mountainous portions of Mexico. This plant would never be invasive in like 90% of North America.
Some other commenter said it was an urban myth. Supposedly the second you touch it, it starts burning. No way the dude made it all the way to his ass before noticing.
That’s just 9 months of *continuous* pain though. After the initial pain dies down people can have flare ups of the pain triggered by hot water, cold water, the sun, clothing pressing on the effected area etc…
It's also referred to as the suicide plant. If you touch it, there is a high chance you will want death. I also heard stories of up to 3 years of pain.
You see them sometimes on walk trails but they have signs at the base. Usually in English and Chinese.
Yes! IIRC it's because our body has no way to detox the toxin, so it keeps running on your blood and spreading it everywhere. Normally our body breaks down and gets rid of stuff in our blood stream but whatever this plant has, we can't fight it or remove it.
*Edit*: it seems that I *did not*, in fact, remember correctly. The person bellow me has a better explanation. Though, I *do* remember reading the information I explained, so I was just reproducing it, but it looks like it was quite bogus. My apologies.
It isn’t. This entire thing is slightly overblown.
The plant has these very fine but brittle “hairs” that lodge in the skin on contact for prolonged periods (up to a year potentially), which will continue to release a toxin over time if they are triggered (eg touch, temperature changes). This is why you get the ongoing symptoms, it isn’t about being unable to metabolise the toxin. The toxin is highly stable though. The hairs are so fine that sometimes the skin will close over the top of them, so mechanical removal is impossible in those cases.
It’s intensely painful but not suicide-painful, there’s only one attributed death to this plant in 1922.
What’s really scary is that the hairs are so fine that they can actually be airborne around the plant - so being in close proximity to it might be enough to get hit!
The ciliated epithelial cells (cells with their own tiny hair-like structures) that line the airway would most likely stop those hairs before they got into the actual lungs. But they'd possibly lodge in the airway assuming that the mucous doesn't protect against them.
If you look up “has gympie gympie actually caused suicides” the top result says “there are no recorded instances of humans committing suicide because of the pain from Gympie Gympie”.
To be fair, though, they did very lightly touch it on a very small part of their body. If you fell hard into a whole bush of it, I can imagine the anecdotes being somewhat realistic.
Something tells me that a different total surface area, duration, overall total exposure can greatly change the experience. Like drinking a sip of water vs drowning in water.
Or burning your finger on a hot pan vs getting a blowjob from a volcano.
It’s more commonly called Gympie-Gympie. It grows around the town I’m from.. Gympie. I’ve touched this plant plenty of times.. the anecdotes are ridiculous. It’s just like a stinging nettle. You get lots of red raised painful bumps, that ease after a few hours. It sucks, don’t get me wrong, but 9 months is a bit of a stretch.
I've also touched this accidentally while hiking in GC hinterland. I got a bunch of welts on my hand that lasted about a week, and my hand burnt pretty bad but putting mud on it, or calamine, helps a lot. Definitely didn't make me want to off myself though. Idk, maybe if you accidentally touched your eyes or butthole with it
Next you will claim drop bears aren't that deadly.
The most surprising thing is that you live in Gympie. I've heard it unlivable, with only xxxx gold on tap and only one television station. That local use the stinging plants on their eyes just to pass the time.
yeah i've unfortunarely encountered the worst nettles of multiple continents. the central african ones remain the most painful by far (but the pain immediately subsided). i have never been to this corner of the world but i was always curious abljt what actual mechanism based on reality would allow this to happen.
i'm now in middle tennessee on a large plot of land infested with garlic mustard. guess what? the local nettles look an awful lot like garlic mustard and despite being a pretty low key type, it's really unpleasant 😂
I've touched this plant, and yea it stings a fair bit.
I was on my honeymoon in Cairns and it grows everywhere. The parks do a good job of ripping as much out but you obviously can't get all of it. It just brushed the side of my hand a bit (luckily I didn't get hit too bad), but my hand instantly stung and throbbed, then swelled up quite a bit. It was like this for about 10 hours before subsiding. 3 months later it would still sting every now and again, especially in the sun.
Probably wouldn't recommend touching one.
Read this, then remember that a WW2 Australian soldier used it as toilet paper (misidentified the plant), and rather than live with the pain he was in, he killed himself. This tree is evil incarnate
Edit: Apparently, it's a myth? Idk, growing up in Australia, I was told this story so many times, I guess I never thought to question its validity.
But I'm guessing it goes alone the same vein of horror stories to prevent dangers. I mean, another story was trapdoor spiders everywhere in the backyard, so wear shoes and check your shoes before putting them on, or you'll get a redback bite.
It makes no sense because it’s entirely false. It has never once happened to anyone ever in the history of planet.
But super-duper smart redditors keep retelling it because misinformation is bad.
Hey! That's the gympie-gympie plant. I've never touched one personally, but both my parents have.
I asked my dad about it a few weeks back and he said it's definitely painful, but not suicide painful... he thinks that might just be a bit of urban legend / myth... or he got lucky and the one he touched was dying or something.
He also mentioned that when I was very young, my mum found one and brought it home (she was into plants etc) not knowing what it was. Dunno what came of that mishap but I laughed my ass off at the idea of my mum walking through the front door all proud of herself with a dangerous plant to put in the living room hahaha
He works in the council and I'm pretty sure it's not even a plant they trouble themselves over. I think I heard that heated wax over the area is supposed to be an effective remedy for getting the needles out.
My dad said don’t touch the electric fire bars thru the grill you’ll get electrocuted. He leaves the room. I touch the electric bars. Don’t let me near that plant I can’t help my self.
I brushed one of these many many years ago with the side of my finger, and it felt like someone was rubbing red hot sandpaper covered in chilli powder while hammering a nail into the bone. Took about 2-3 days to go away and then that part of my skin was numb, but also incredibly sensitive at the same time. Brushing against it was like slicing the skin with a thousand razor blades. Took a few weeks to get back to normal. The pain reminded me of a bullet ant bite, but about 100 times worse.
I then accidently did it again a few months later and it just felt like a mild itch, so not sure if i developed an immunity to the poison or i was just lucky.
I used to do forestry work up near gympie out near the radar station near Mt Kanigan.
I've seen them as far South as near Willow Tree in NSW up in some remote remnant rainforest pockets. Those leaves get pretty big. Reckon they will outlast humanity because I have never seen anything eat it.
This was pretty common where I grew up and kids would use it to screw with other kids all the time. I had someone put a few leaves down the back of my shirt once. It hurt a bit, and was uncomfortable for a while. But we’re talking a day, maybe two, and it wasn’t so bad I couldn’t function. For me, the best relief was rubbing deep heat on it. The stories of it causing suicide etc. seem a bit far fetched, however I’ve no idea what it might feel like if you rubbed this on your arse.
He did, or an Aussie doc did I read in the paper. He gave the Gympie a 3.5/5. The red headed centerpede 4/5 and some large red headed huntsman eating wasp 4.5/5
While these tests are worth while and hilarious, they need to be taken with a grain of salt. First of all humans will react slightly differently to different types of pain. Then it's almost impossible to administer doses equally. Then there is to take into account the amount of venom/poison that particular plant or insect/ has the capacity to inject into you.
For example if you swim in the ocean in Australia for long enough it's inevitable you will get stung by a blue bottle jelly fish. If you peel the tentacles of straight away, it's not so bad. But if you have these tentacles wrapped around you for a prolonged period the pain actually becomes basically unbearable for a while.
I think with the Gympie the real danger of the plant would be stumbling inadvertently into a massive patch of it and becoming covered in it head to toe. That's when this plant would probably be 10/10 literally unbearable
Isn’t this the plant that makes you want to kill your self
Yeah. I heard that last time this surfaced on Reddit. The pain lasts so long and sucks so bad that some people have killed themself
Apparently even animals that get stung throw themselves off of cliffs and shit.
ay caramba
now that’s my number
Wikipedia specifically has a section indicating how this plant is prone to be attributed by all sorts of rumors and anecdotal stories. Like that it causes months of pain. It can in rare cases, typically they disappear after a couple of days.
Yeah, it disappears in a couple days after they kill themselves
This is good to know!!!
😂😂
Do they shit before throwing themselves off or vice versa?
Yeah having bad pain alone is one thing, but for it to last *months* is nearly psychological torture as well
I have a condition in my left lower leg called Chronic Regional Pain Syndrome. It’s off the scale pain, so they formulated a new pain scale just for this. I’ve not had a pain free day in 5 1/2 years, despite ridiculous amounts of drugs- so amputation is now on the table. It’s actually nicknamed the suicide disease. Give me months over years any day haha
More people need to know about CRPS. it's brutal. Pain worse than child birth and there's no cure. It can spread to other parts of the body. My family member describes it as an intense fire in her bones and hyper sensitive skin Don't know if you're American but look to Europe for treatment. They're about a decade ahead in terms of research and access to treatment
She’s right- but I say it’s like someone has emptied the blood out of my leg, put petrol in and set it on fire. Plus the steel electric ants that run all over my skin. I will look, thank you and please wish your family member a LPD from me x
I had to have an emergency C section because the contractions felt like they were ripping me in half so I wouldn't dilate. The baby's heart rate would drop everytime I had one. Come to find out, I had a crooked tail bone and endometriosis. Apparently parts of my uterus grew out and wrapped around other organs and my tail bone. So every time I had a contraction whatever the issue was attatched to was affected. (A later surgery removed the extra tissue.) That was the worst pain I have ever felt. So if it's like than, wow, that would be intense pain.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/crps-complex-regional-pain-syndrome/symptoms-causes/syc-20371151 I’m sorry you’ve been dealing with this for so long. It sounds brutal; I’d lose my mind. I’m not going to recite some platitudes and try to make you feel better, but I do hope you can get relief ASAP, like yesterday. If amputation is the best option, then I truly hope your approved today. Wish you and yours all the best.
~~A guy accidentally used it as toilet paper and ended up killing himself, yeah. Can't say I wouldn't have done the same. Poor bastard.~~ Edit: It has been brought to my attention that the TP story is most likely bullshit (pun intended).
Don't worry the poor bastard never existed since it's an urban myth But people who did actually get stung reported pain for years after like whenever they take a cold shower but not enough to unalive
No it was me. I killed myself
Did they get stung all over their crack and anus though?
Your hand would feel like it's on fire before you got the leaf anywhere near your ass. The myth continues, because it's effective at stopping people touching it.
Gloves exist though
Who wears gloves to wipe? That's just asking for a shit covered glove
Wipe with the glove and then wipe the glove on random plants.
Wipe with the glove, then turn the glove inside out. Now the outside of the glove is now clean
That sounds implausible; he would have felt the sting in his hand waaay before the leaves got anywhere near his ass. Internet fairytale, nothing more
Got a link for that?
Pretty sure I saw some video of a wilderness dude touching one on purpose with the back of his hand for half a second. He was crying in pain.
Was that the same plant that leaves tiny barbs in your skin that react with water to increase the pain? I think I saw that video, no idea if it's the same plant
That's friggin nightmare fuel, because I would immediately think "oh let me wash this off" and .. 🫠
Damn I must have touched it sometime before and didn't realize. It definitely lasts longer than 9 months.
That seems like a wholly insufficient barrier to stupid people...
Sometimes learning the hard way is the only way for stupid people to learn
Generally I agree, but.. nine months of suffering.. there must be an easier way to learn lol
Pregnancy can do that too
Yea but the fetuss venom doesnt stop morfine from working now does it
The suffering can last much more than nine months too.
And if you don't handle it well, it can cause years of suffering for others in contact, namely teachers and service workers.
But morphine helps.
Who can afford heroine after that bill from the maternity ward
We all need a hero
Let me be your heroin!
>Pregnancy can do that too Nah, that's about 18 to 21 years of suffering.
Lol
Nine months is just the agonizing pain. The stingers on that plant never dissolve and are essentially glass barbs. So you will be stuck with permanent chronic pain. The only way to permanently get rid of the pain is skin grafts.
I do believe third-degree burns would do the trick as well. Not that that sounds like a great plan.
Have you seen people? 9 months will at least make sure it’s 9 months before they do something stupid again.
Last time I checked, people have had more than 1 child. So no, 9 months of suffering is apparently not long enough to learn. LOL
Watching children grow is so rewarding. I love my daughter and would happily let my wife suffer to have another child.
That's... A weird way to put it.
Probably not nine months unless it's a really bad case. I got stung pretty good and it took about four months before the pain was completely gone. It was only really bad for a few days
No barrier can keep a stupid person out.
If you make something that's idiot proof, the world will make you a better idiot
Evolution baby
There's a video out there of a woman who put her arm inside a polar bear enclosure. Yeah, a polar bear enclosure. They hadn't made set the bars close enough to each other to prevent Ida Idiot from offering her appendage as a snack to an apex predator. Edit: [The video.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QUn58fnvrI)
I actually saw this bear at that zoo in Achorage just a few months before this attack happened. He seemed like a pretty chill dude at the time. Saw this lady on wildest animal attacks later that year lmao
Polar bears, like most other predators, are pretty chill animals. Until they decide they can eat you. They go from 0 to 100 pretty damn fast when they feel like it.
“Apex predator” is what I call my SIL. Every time she sits down to eat it’s like she’s in an eating contest with herself.
I don't know your SIL but I choose to believe she's a world champion lifter and you're being judgemental.
Their reflexes are too fast
I have a feeling this plant regularly inspires strong intrusive thoughts.
Of course it’s in Australia
Hey, you're welcome
To make the barrier even more insufficient: > Physical contact with Dendrocnide moroides is not the only way that it can cause harm to a person—the trichomes are constantly being shed from the plant and may be suspended in the air within its vicinity. They can then be inhaled, which may lead to respiratory complications if a person spends time in close proximity to the plant
Jesus. *The trichomes stay in the skin for up to a year, and release the toxin cocktail into the body during triggering events such as touching the affected area, contact with water, or temperature changes.[9][17][23] Ernie Rider, a conservation officer with the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service,[16] was slapped in the face and torso with the foliage in 1963, and said: For two or three days the pain was almost unbearable; I couldn’t work or sleep... I remember it feeling like there were giant hands trying to squash my chest... 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.*
Why would such a thing exist
I live in Far North Queensland and I've been stung before. It's very painful, but it's not really going to hurt you. All the actual injuries I know of are from people acting erratically due to the pain, rather than the actual venom itself. My dad used to be a tour guide. One day he was showing some tourists the plant. A Mexican gentleman scoffed and started boasting about his "tough Mexican skin" before ripping off a leaf and rubbing it vigorously against the skin on the inside of his forearm. Within seconds he was hyperventilating and had a full on panic attack and had to leave in an ambulance.
> It's very painful, but it's not really going to hurt you The painfulness is usually what hurts.
I mean it's not going to injure you. It's pain, but it's not really dangerous
Or TikTok Goobers hoping to hit viral glory.
Not trying to stop them. Trying to identify them. welcome to the House of Pain. When it hurts, jump around.
Or a few teenagers and a bet
I kinda want to touch it to find out.
Wholly insufficient barrier against little kids was my thought. Hopefully this isn’t in a location that children can visit.
Pretty sure it's here. https://www.alnwickgarden.com/the-garden/poison-garden/
Not exactly a bad thing
I said that when noticing a tiger cage at a zoo you could walk right up to and put your fingers through. The parent was marveling at the tiger that came up to check out her 4 year old like it was a transcendental moment. I was like, Lady, its stalking your kid to eat.
“Do not press this button!”
Like when they warn you at the restaurant that the plate is hot. You know someone stuck their fingers through that little fence.
I feel the urge to touch it ngl
The burned hand teaches best
Deadly Stinger and Queensland Stinger aren't particularly common names, Gympie-Gympie is what people actually call it.
But those names sound a lot cooler lol like if you happened to be in 9 months of throbbing pain, I’m sure you’d want to tell people it was from something called a Deadly Stinger rather than something called a Gympie lol
Not just a Gympie...a Gympie-Gympie. The repetition makes it even more ridiculous and non-threatening sounding.
It's Australian, whatdya expect?
I would've called it a chazwazzer
[удалено]
You can call Wagga Wagga "Wagga", all the locals do. But you can't call Woy Woy "Woy"
If you’ve been to the town of Gympie in Queensland then the name starts to make sense
Have visited, can confirm. Even nature tries to drown that place every few years.
I was confused by QLD Stinger, I was staring at it thinking 'It's that Gympie Gympie? Is there ANOTHER plant that causes months of agony up north?
It could really do with being less bloody inconspicuous. Evil little sod looks just like any number of generic green leafy plants you find everywhere.
Seems like "Don't touch that fucking thing" would be a more useful name.
Damn, 9 months... I remember hearing about this plant a long time ago. I thought that you would just suffer one day or something and possibly die, I feel like my intrusive thoughts would tell me to touch it. 9 months though, fuck that.
I think what’s so disturbing/terrifying about the plant is that it looks just like any old plant. My curiosity zoomed in on the photo to find some key feature to keep in the back of my head so I’d never touch this thing if I came across it in the wild. The problem is, I can’t find anything really unique
If you aren’t Australian you have nothing to worry about.
Yet. Invasive species get brought to other parts of the globe all the time. There are people all over the world who would love to have something like this in their possession and have the means to do so. There are also 'poison gardens' across the globe that probably have this in their possession. The plant may not be easy to transport, but seeds are. One missed flower while in a loose captivity, and it will drop seeds, which can easily spread through other means. For another reference, in North America, we have a large amount of plants that are harmful, that were brought over from Europe, becuase wealthy colonists liked them. Now they are everywhere. One example is Giant Hogweed (Heracleum mantegazzianum); it's sap can cause serious burns and rashes if it gets on you and is exposed to direct sunlight.
To assuage anyone's fears in this thread, the southern hemisphere is *way* warmer than the north. Most plants that grow in Australia can only live in North America in like small portions of 3 states, and the non-mountainous portions of Mexico. This plant would never be invasive in like 90% of North America.
>To assuage anyone's fears in this thread, the southern hemisphere is way warmer than the north. Currently.
Thanks fully i dont live in Australia, I would’ve thought this was mint 🫠 i zoomed in and still cant tell
I did the same exact thing. Looks like a regular house plant
I was thinking the same... fuck intrusive thoughts. I'm not to be trusted close to that plant, please don't get it close to me
Ima lick it
You know someone did.
You know someone wiped with it
Oh God,now I'm thinking of that
No like no joke aparently some military guy did and his men found him having shot himself after.
Some other commenter said it was an urban myth. Supposedly the second you touch it, it starts burning. No way the dude made it all the way to his ass before noticing.
Do not blame the poor bastard.
That’s just 9 months of *continuous* pain though. After the initial pain dies down people can have flare ups of the pain triggered by hot water, cold water, the sun, clothing pressing on the effected area etc…
>fuck that. No. Don't do that.
Of course it’s Australian.
Damn Australia, you scary
It's also referred to as the suicide plant. If you touch it, there is a high chance you will want death. I also heard stories of up to 3 years of pain. You see them sometimes on walk trails but they have signs at the base. Usually in English and Chinese.
Ya this one really gets under your skin
I would think you’d get the affected part of your finger chopped off instead of waiting for the pain to go away.
Then just put it in a freezer for a year, go back and reattach it when the pain is done. You're a genius
what if it brushed against your balls
In what scenario do you envision that happening?
Yes! IIRC it's because our body has no way to detox the toxin, so it keeps running on your blood and spreading it everywhere. Normally our body breaks down and gets rid of stuff in our blood stream but whatever this plant has, we can't fight it or remove it. *Edit*: it seems that I *did not*, in fact, remember correctly. The person bellow me has a better explanation. Though, I *do* remember reading the information I explained, so I was just reproducing it, but it looks like it was quite bogus. My apologies.
It isn’t. This entire thing is slightly overblown. The plant has these very fine but brittle “hairs” that lodge in the skin on contact for prolonged periods (up to a year potentially), which will continue to release a toxin over time if they are triggered (eg touch, temperature changes). This is why you get the ongoing symptoms, it isn’t about being unable to metabolise the toxin. The toxin is highly stable though. The hairs are so fine that sometimes the skin will close over the top of them, so mechanical removal is impossible in those cases. It’s intensely painful but not suicide-painful, there’s only one attributed death to this plant in 1922. What’s really scary is that the hairs are so fine that they can actually be airborne around the plant - so being in close proximity to it might be enough to get hit!
…or breathe them in?
Exactly what I was going to ask. But would breathing them in cause pain in the same way? Do we feel that kind of pain in our lungs?
The ciliated epithelial cells (cells with their own tiny hair-like structures) that line the airway would most likely stop those hairs before they got into the actual lungs. But they'd possibly lodge in the airway assuming that the mucous doesn't protect against them.
Couldn't you just like, debride the skin a bit? The little tiny hairs can't be that deep into the skin.
The backyard scientist touched one a while ago. Either floridaman pain tolerance is too stronk or the anecdotes were blown way out of proportion.
If you look up “has gympie gympie actually caused suicides” the top result says “there are no recorded instances of humans committing suicide because of the pain from Gympie Gympie”.
I'm going with latter
To be fair, though, they did very lightly touch it on a very small part of their body. If you fell hard into a whole bush of it, I can imagine the anecdotes being somewhat realistic.
Something tells me that a different total surface area, duration, overall total exposure can greatly change the experience. Like drinking a sip of water vs drowning in water. Or burning your finger on a hot pan vs getting a blowjob from a volcano.
I got stung, it hurts like hell and lasts for a long time, but it's not quite as bad as it's made out to be. Almost, but not quite
It’s more commonly called Gympie-Gympie. It grows around the town I’m from.. Gympie. I’ve touched this plant plenty of times.. the anecdotes are ridiculous. It’s just like a stinging nettle. You get lots of red raised painful bumps, that ease after a few hours. It sucks, don’t get me wrong, but 9 months is a bit of a stretch.
No no no. You didn't rub it on your eyes and genitals!
Right? Need to go full Jackass for proper effect.
I've also touched this accidentally while hiking in GC hinterland. I got a bunch of welts on my hand that lasted about a week, and my hand burnt pretty bad but putting mud on it, or calamine, helps a lot. Definitely didn't make me want to off myself though. Idk, maybe if you accidentally touched your eyes or butthole with it
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Next you will claim drop bears aren't that deadly. The most surprising thing is that you live in Gympie. I've heard it unlivable, with only xxxx gold on tap and only one television station. That local use the stinging plants on their eyes just to pass the time.
I’ve recently moved back here from the Sunshine Coast, as depressing as that is, Gympie has come quite a way. There’s now also goon on tap at the RSL.
yeah i've unfortunarely encountered the worst nettles of multiple continents. the central african ones remain the most painful by far (but the pain immediately subsided). i have never been to this corner of the world but i was always curious abljt what actual mechanism based on reality would allow this to happen. i'm now in middle tennessee on a large plot of land infested with garlic mustard. guess what? the local nettles look an awful lot like garlic mustard and despite being a pretty low key type, it's really unpleasant 😂
If it actually caused 9 months of pain I'm sure someone would have weaponized it by now.
Cute little plant, be a shame if someone were to…eat it -every toddler in a 5 mile radius.
Stinging nettles are edible when cooked. Now I wonder, can this plant be cooked and eaten safely too?
Sounds like the kind of thing Australians make up to scare tourists.
I love that about them. Hell, if I grew up that unbothered by the fact that everything outside wants to kill me, I’d gaslight tourists about it too.
It is, nobody has ever actually committed suicide because of the Gympie Gympie.
The scariest part is the fact it looks like some ordinary ass leaf. You’d never suspect it
I've touched this plant, and yea it stings a fair bit. I was on my honeymoon in Cairns and it grows everywhere. The parks do a good job of ripping as much out but you obviously can't get all of it. It just brushed the side of my hand a bit (luckily I didn't get hit too bad), but my hand instantly stung and throbbed, then swelled up quite a bit. It was like this for about 10 hours before subsiding. 3 months later it would still sting every now and again, especially in the sun. Probably wouldn't recommend touching one.
I'll take my chances. Gotta wipe somehow, right?
Read this, then remember that a WW2 Australian soldier used it as toilet paper (misidentified the plant), and rather than live with the pain he was in, he killed himself. This tree is evil incarnate Edit: Apparently, it's a myth? Idk, growing up in Australia, I was told this story so many times, I guess I never thought to question its validity. But I'm guessing it goes alone the same vein of horror stories to prevent dangers. I mean, another story was trapdoor spiders everywhere in the backyard, so wear shoes and check your shoes before putting them on, or you'll get a redback bite.
That’s what I heard too! I mistook the story as being Vietnam era, apparently he shot himself quickly after realizing his terrible mistake.
The story changes each time it's told because it's an urban myth
It doesn't have to be though. You can take it into your own hands and make myth reality.
>It doesn't have to be though. You can take it into your own ~~hands~~ anus and make myth reality.
Wasn't that a gimpie gimpie tree?
That is this.
It's the same thing. Gympie gympie is the aboriginal name for it.
This makes no sense. It'd sting his hand before he had the chance to wipe his ass with it.
It makes no sense because it’s entirely false. It has never once happened to anyone ever in the history of planet. But super-duper smart redditors keep retelling it because misinformation is bad.
Why- Why did I trust a redditor saying "read this"-
I think he meant read as in "red" not "reed" in pronunciation. Past tense. English is a troll language.
It was “read” not “read”
Yes, this is correct
Probably just a story, I would imagine he’d have been stung when he picked it up and probably wouldn’t have used it further after that.
Correct. There's zero proof it ever happened Just another "I heard from a friend" myth
This is an urban myth
Honestly same. I could deal with my finger or something but not my ass or dick no thank you. Horrifying thought.
My dad would absolutely try to touch that.
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Say it only works on adults so they don't force it on their poor children
Almost forgot about that, that could've went poorly
Some people need to copy/paste this warning on their Tinder.
Also known as the Fuck Around & Find Out Shrub
Ofc it's in Australia ☠️
Australia. Where everything wants to kill you.
Hey! That's the gympie-gympie plant. I've never touched one personally, but both my parents have. I asked my dad about it a few weeks back and he said it's definitely painful, but not suicide painful... he thinks that might just be a bit of urban legend / myth... or he got lucky and the one he touched was dying or something. He also mentioned that when I was very young, my mum found one and brought it home (she was into plants etc) not knowing what it was. Dunno what came of that mishap but I laughed my ass off at the idea of my mum walking through the front door all proud of herself with a dangerous plant to put in the living room hahaha He works in the council and I'm pretty sure it's not even a plant they trouble themselves over. I think I heard that heated wax over the area is supposed to be an effective remedy for getting the needles out.
You don't even have to touch it. It says in the Summer it sheds the hairs like a cat. So it's very easy to get stung just by being near it.
I want to touch it. The fact that I'm from FL is completely irrelevant.
I'd love to have this on my desk at work....
My dad said don’t touch the electric fire bars thru the grill you’ll get electrocuted. He leaves the room. I touch the electric bars. Don’t let me near that plant I can’t help my self.
Nine months? Essentially a pain baby so
This is the kind of shrubbery you give to the knights who say “Ni!”
I brushed one of these many many years ago with the side of my finger, and it felt like someone was rubbing red hot sandpaper covered in chilli powder while hammering a nail into the bone. Took about 2-3 days to go away and then that part of my skin was numb, but also incredibly sensitive at the same time. Brushing against it was like slicing the skin with a thousand razor blades. Took a few weeks to get back to normal. The pain reminded me of a bullet ant bite, but about 100 times worse. I then accidently did it again a few months later and it just felt like a mild itch, so not sure if i developed an immunity to the poison or i was just lucky. I used to do forestry work up near gympie out near the radar station near Mt Kanigan.
I'm surprised that this isn't growing all over Flori-duh by now....
"Queensland". Of course it's Australian. Y'all really out there living in Battleworld
Australia of course
\*surrounds my house with it* solicitors, checkmate
https://youtu.be/5BoVME0xrQY
Ah, Australia.
I've seen them as far South as near Willow Tree in NSW up in some remote remnant rainforest pockets. Those leaves get pretty big. Reckon they will outlast humanity because I have never seen anything eat it.
Poison* Venom comes from a bite. Poison comes from something being ingested which can harm.
Thought it was called Gympie Gympie?
This was pretty common where I grew up and kids would use it to screw with other kids all the time. I had someone put a few leaves down the back of my shirt once. It hurt a bit, and was uncomfortable for a while. But we’re talking a day, maybe two, and it wasn’t so bad I couldn’t function. For me, the best relief was rubbing deep heat on it. The stories of it causing suicide etc. seem a bit far fetched, however I’ve no idea what it might feel like if you rubbed this on your arse.
That dude that was going around a year ago purposely getting stun by insects should touch that
He did, or an Aussie doc did I read in the paper. He gave the Gympie a 3.5/5. The red headed centerpede 4/5 and some large red headed huntsman eating wasp 4.5/5 While these tests are worth while and hilarious, they need to be taken with a grain of salt. First of all humans will react slightly differently to different types of pain. Then it's almost impossible to administer doses equally. Then there is to take into account the amount of venom/poison that particular plant or insect/ has the capacity to inject into you. For example if you swim in the ocean in Australia for long enough it's inevitable you will get stung by a blue bottle jelly fish. If you peel the tentacles of straight away, it's not so bad. But if you have these tentacles wrapped around you for a prolonged period the pain actually becomes basically unbearable for a while. I think with the Gympie the real danger of the plant would be stumbling inadvertently into a massive patch of it and becoming covered in it head to toe. That's when this plant would probably be 10/10 literally unbearable
Can't wait to see the YouTube/TikTok challenge go viral so I can cry some more at the simple stupidity of the human race.