Friday, June 16, 2017

Gympie Gympie: The World's Most Venomous Plant

Recently I came across an interesting question on Quora, asking what kind of pain makes death look like a blessing? Most of the answers that followed talked about animal bites and terminal ailments. One answer, however, detailed the sting of a rather obscure and unknown plant: the Dendrocnide moroides, otherwise known as gympie-gympie, or suicide plant.
Awwwww, look at that heart-shaped leaf. Let me get one for you, darling. Image: ratmaja.com
When I browsed the online science library for literature, I found only three papers on the subject; one of which was unfortunately locked behind the paywall. Further investigation revealed more, but the number is still considered relatively small, which explains why when typed into google search, you don't get to see a lot of useful articles on the plant.

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