We have several stinging trees growing not too far from the house we are living in. The ones here, known as the Iron Range Stinging Tree are similar to the Gympie Gympie & others further south, but is renowned for being the most toxic & more painful than any of the others.  Even contact with dead plants which have been laying on the ground for long periods have the same effect. They are among few of the worlds venomous plants, injecting neurotoxins into the 'victim'. Interestingly though whilst causing extreme pain they do not actually damage the body like many other venoms. eg. from some snakes. 

A significant problem is that to the untrained eye there are many harmless plants which look quite similar.

Effects can continue for many months, but it is the first 24 hours which are worst & when opiate medication is required

Last year we had an incident where a young researcher visiting was badly stung on his arm, the result of casually brushing against the plan't leaves whilst walking in the rainforest. Falling into the plant like the lady in the article would have been absolutely horrific, almost unimaginable. 

The following is an extract from one if my blog posts last year. 

"It was whilst they were here that the stinging tree incident occurred. Pedro, the 6 tall young team leader described feeling his arm brush against what felt like sandpaper. Moments later the pain began. Back at the house his arm became swollen & oozing clear fluid. Pain came in waves affecting his lymphatic system, not just the injured area. He was a stoic chap, not given to theatrics, not wanting to give into the substantial pain he was in, but as it worsened we could see it in his face. The Iron Range Stinging tree, which is an opportunistic plant, popping up where light gaps are created, along side paths or where cyclones have brought trees down, generally lasting until the canopy above heals itself, is considered to be the most painful of several species of stinging tree across Australia. It is a little understood plant, with two attempts to research it over the 30 years abandoned due it making the researchers sick. A further more recent attempt to understand it has described it as a venomous plant which effectively injects, as yet not understood neurotoxins into its victims. A treatment protocol from Cairns base hospital was found online.  Click on link below

http://c-foam.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/ARCS-Tox-Stinging-Tree-Management.pdf     (NOTE: This link no longer works but I have copied it below in the post).

From this it was obvious that we were dealing with a poorly understood situation, based upon anecdotal aboriginal records of crushing ants to obtain formic acid to put onto the wound. 

The tree, on touching the skin leaves tiny silica hypodermic like needles, in the skin which when disturbed release more toxins.  Pedro had hairy arms & the first thing he did was to shave the affected area releasing more toxins. His colleagues, using what they had to hand, then applied duct tape to pull out the micro needles, but probably did more harm than good pressing the duct tape onto his skin. 

Finally he recognised that he could not tough it out and accepted my offer to take him into the clinic. We felt confident that the clinic would be familiar with the situation & it was one of the three days per week that the RFDS staff were there. Is that the tree which leaves prickles in you asked the visiting RFDS male nurse. This did not inspire confidence. After the nurse had looked in the book (not the management protocol we had found online) he decided that spreading a topical painkiller, Lignocaine gel, on the affected site was the best strategy. Mere touch of Pedros skin was agony, a breeze through the room was more than enough, let alone a spatula & gel. With gritted teeth & a more than sweaty brow he asked me to see if I could find some hydrochloric acid (as per the online management protocol), something the clinic did not have. I found some at the council hardware store, lots of it in 20 litre drums.  Opening a drum one could see the acrid corrosive fumes immediately rise into the air. After stopping the young shop assistant from trying to pour some into a handy narrow necked soft drink bottle, direct from the drum with no funnel, no gloves, no protective glasses a major burns victim in the making, I returned to the clinic & obtained a large syringe & a urine specimen jar before returning to get the acid a little more safely, albeit still with no protective wear.  Back at the clinic once more, with the knowledge that we now had the acid (& which the clinic were not prepared to administer Itll be at your own risk you know) Pedro used a tap to wash off the lignocaine. The moment the room temperature water touched his skin his knees buckled & a groan escaped his mouth, the only time I heard him do so. He left the hospital with a showbag of goodies. Gauze swabs, more lignocaine, pain killers (Endone), laxative tablets to be taken with the endone, syringes, sterile water etc. Back at the house we diluted the 33% hydrochloric acid to 3.3% & with swabs over the affected area Pedro carefully squirted acid onto them from a syringe & left them in situ for 20 minutes. I was terrified he would be causing himself severe burns, but accepted his logic of rather risk burns than leave this as it is. The theory was that the acid would aid in dissolving the silica needles.  This was repeated twice more during that day. By late afternoon he was still in a bad way & feeling increasingly desperate. Some other online sources had suggested using hydrochloric acid at 10%.  Pedro felt he needed a stronger solution as the 3.3% had had little to no effect. He suggested 6.6% as this would make for easier & more accurate dilution. So we tried it. Thankfully no acid burns & it helped. An endone aided sleep overnight & the following day although still very sore, he was over the worst of it. The effects last for months, but the first 24 hours are by far the worst. We now have a kit made up here just in case, with 6.6% hydrochloric acid to be used as the first step, followed by the poured (not spread) application of hair removal wax, before going to the clinic to seek serious painkillers. 

 

-- Edited by Cuppa on Thursday 23rd of March 2023 03:53:24 PM

-- Edited by Cuppa on Thursday 23rd of March 2023 03:55:15 PM

I am thinking out loud here

When we come across such a tree, why don't we destroy it?