Gympie Gympie suicide plant

It is well known that there are dangerous snakes and spiders in Australia. What is not well known is that there is a plant, touching which, you will experience "hell on earth".

Today I remembered the story told, of soldiers on manoeuvres in bushland in Queensland, Australia, during World War II. An officer went behind some bushes to do number two, then he looked around for something to wipe his bum with, grabbed some leaves off a plant. His men found him lying on the ground, pants down, shot through the head with his own pistol.

Yep, that's how painful it is. Not from personal experience. It only grows in northern Queensland and Indonesia.

it is such an innocent looking plant, covered in very fine hairs, you would be tempted just to feel it.

...you can't see the hairs in this photo, they are so tiny. Like microscopic glass hypodermic needles.

Some information here:

https://www.discovery.com/nature/Suicide-Plant

Dr Marina Hurley, a scientist who studied the Gympie Gympie, has appeared in this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VS69FXbjN8

...yes, people can even inhale the hairs just by walking past the plant.

No difference if they are dead leaves on the ground, the neuro-toxin remains active for 100+ years.

Hiking in northern Queensland is not on my agenda.  

Tags: ethos