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What it’s like to fall into the deadly Australian plant, gympie-gympie

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Re: What it’s like to fall into the deadly Australian plant, gympie-gympie

#61

Post by zabzonk »

mojo74 wrote: post #43
zabzonk wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

luckily, the really deadly cassaworys have not yet learned to swim

And forgotten how to fly

should have thought of that :-)

annecdote: i once went for a job at edinburgh university zoology department (i would have been about 19 at the time), and was confronted with a mostly disected mess.

interviewer: what do you make of that?

me: it looks like a badly disected cassowary.

it was a cassowary (where from, who knows - they don't roam wild on arthur seat) and i didn't get the job (good).

Re: What it’s like to fall into the deadly Australian plant, gympie-gympie

#63

Post by grogenaut »

dekhn wrote: post #59

Reminds me of devil's club ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil's_club ). I touched some in alaska and it was intensely painful then my skin sloughed off and I have a scar (unpigmented skin) some 30 years later.

There's no such article when I click the link

Re: What it’s like to fall into the deadly Australian plant, gympie-gympie

#64

Post by klipt »

grogenaut wrote: post #63
dekhn wrote: post #59

Reminds me of devil's club ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil's_club ). I touched some in alaska and it was intensely painful then my skin sloughed off and I have a scar (unpigmented skin) some 30 years later.

There's no such article when I click the link

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil's_club

Re: What it’s like to fall into the deadly Australian plant, gympie-gympie

#65

Post by skrebbel »

mrjh wrote: post #57
blantonl wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

dunny-role topping himself The English Language is definitely different around the world.

“Topping himself” is definitely a common phrase in the UK too

I googled it so you don’t have to: it means to commit suicide.

Re: What it’s like to fall into the deadly Australian plant, gympie-gympie

#66

Post by klipt »

blantonl wrote: post #49
llamaLord wrote: post #7

There's an urban legend in Australia about a bloke that went camping once, had to take a shit in the bush, and didn't have any dunny-role. Poor guy grabbed a handful of Gympie-gympie that was on the ground next to him and proceeded to wipe his ass with it. Legend says he ended up topping himself a few hours later to escape the pain. Whether it's true or not... Fuck only knows. We do like making shit up... Especially…

dunny-role topping himself The English Language is definitely different around the world.

"Skeleton on the Dunny" is a great book!

Re: What it’s like to fall into the deadly Australian plant, gympie-gympie

#67

Post by AlbertCory »

I've been to Oz three times. I love stories like this.

Just yesterday we had this story:

https://abcnews.go.com/International/police-hunt-man-platypu...

I wonder why the platypus didn't go, "OK, mate, you wanted a taste of the wild? Here you go then." (stings him)

Re: What it’s like to fall into the deadly Australian plant, gympie-gympie

#68

Post by sufficer »

dekhn wrote: post #59

Reminds me of devil's club ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil's_club ). I touched some in alaska and it was intensely painful then my skin sloughed off and I have a scar (unpigmented skin) some 30 years later.

BS. They have spiny needles that can prick but it is no more dangerous than rose thorns.

Re: What it’s like to fall into the deadly Australian plant, gympie-gympie

#69

Post by cmpalmer52 »

moron4hire wrote: post #32
llamaLord wrote: post #7

There's an urban legend in Australia about a bloke that went camping once, had to take a shit in the bush, and didn't have any dunny-role. Poor guy grabbed a handful of Gympie-gympie that was on the ground next to him and proceeded to wipe his ass with it. Legend says he ended up topping himself a few hours later to escape the pain. Whether it's true or not... Fuck only knows. We do like making shit up... Especially…

We have the same urban legend in the US about poison ivy, but I actually knew a kid who made the mistake. Poison ivy is certainly nowhere near this description of gympie-gympie, but the persistent itch is certainly unrelenting enough to cause pretty severe distress. I got a small touch of it on my forearm one time. Didn't even know I had brushed up against the plant, so I didn't perform the recommended clean up. Just…

A friend attacked a patch of undergrowth with a string trimmer (“weed eater”). She was wearing shorts and the pulped fragments of poison ivy splattered all over her legs and arms. Imagine putting poison ivy in a blender, then pouring it on yourself.

Re: What it’s like to fall into the deadly Australian plant, gympie-gympie

#70

Post by 1024core »

photochemsyn wrote: post #23

Recent research (2020) revealed these plants containt a potent protein neurotoxin: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abb8828 > "We show here that the venoms of Australian Dendrocnide species contain heretofore unknown pain-inducing peptides that potently activate mouse sensory neurons and delay inactivation of voltage-gated sodium channels. These neurotoxins localize specifically to the stinging hairs and ar…

I always wonder: how tf did evolution end up designing such a thing?
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