Читать книгу Extreme Nature - Mark Carwardine - Страница 28

NAME	gympie-gympie stinging tree Dendrocnide moroides
LOCATION	Australia
ABILITY	defending itself with toxic chemicals

© Bill Bachman/ANTphoto.com

Of course, any tree could fall on you, and plenty of trees are poisonous to eat, but this aside, the trees that cause the most excruciating pain are ones that you just brush against. These are the stinging trees that are found in several parts of the world but are most persistently painful in that land of advanced toxins, Australia. Here are six Dendrocnide species, two of which – the northern shiny-leaf stinging tree and the southern giant stinging tree – are large, tree-like trees, and four of which are more like shrubs. Of the six, the worst agony is said to be inflicted by a shrub, the gympie-gympie, but they all hurt a lot.

What looks at first like a layer of fur on all parts except the roots is really a mass of tiny glass (silicon) fibres containing toxic chemicals. Just a brush against a tree results in the skin being impaled with a scattering of fibres, which act like hypodermic needles and are all but impossible to extract (Australian first-aid kits sometimes include wax hair-removal strips). The poison causes burning, itching, swelling and sometimes blistering that is said to be at its most unbearable soon after contact but can keep causing pain for years. The fibres can penetrate most clothing, and sometimes air-borne ones can be inhaled. Oddly, the stings don’t affect all animals. Insects and even some native mammals actually eat the leaves. The ones that suffer tend to be introductions to Australia, such as dogs, horses and humans.