Contact with the leaves or twigs causes the hollow, silica-tipped hairs to penetrate the skin. The sting causes an extremely painful stinging sensation that can last for days, weeks, or months, and the injured area becomes covered with small, red spots joining together to form a red, swollen mass. The sting is potent enough to kill humans, dogs, and horses, and is infamously agonizing. Stories tell of horses jumping off cliffs after being stung, and supposedly one Australian officer shot himself to escape the pain of a sting. One man who was slapped in the face and torso with the foliage said, "For two or three days the pain was almost unbearable; I couldn’t work or sleep, 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."
... makes mention of a tale that I had encountered previously on the internet, where an unwitting fellow who committed suicide after using the leaf of a stinging tree for "toilet purposes
find the cure for it close bye being the native Alocasia commonly called the cunjevoi, i cut a piece of the cunjevoi off & squeezed the juice & rubbed the piece along his arm where u could see the swelling & redness already developing, within minutes he said the pain was almost completely gone. we kept applying fresh pieces for a few hours & there was no more pain. The aboriginals sure know their stuff.
skywalker wrote: The area was a place just southwest of Townsville, called the Pinnacles. I'm sure it's lovely once you get to the top.
nq111 wrote:skywalker wrote: The area was a place just southwest of Townsville, called the Pinnacles. I'm sure it's lovely once you get to the top.
It is - this is what you missed
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