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Featured Image Credit: YouTube/TheBackyardScientist
Topics: Science, Environment, Weird
Bec Oakes
A man who touched the 'world's most painful plant' has shared how it feels and it shouldn't come as a shock that it's not exactly pleasant.
The Gympie-Gympie plant, which is part of nettle family Urticaceae and is most commonly found in the rainforests of Australia and Indonesia, has recently found its way to the UK.
News broke earlier this week that the plant, known in Australia as the stinging tree, has now taken root at Alnwick Garden's Poison Garden in Northumberland, where visitors have been warned that the plants on display can kill them.
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The plant's tiny hair-like needles send a burning sensation through the victim's body, with the pain intensifying over the next 20-30 minutes and potentially continuing for weeks or even months. Ouch!
Around the time the species was first documented in 1866, a horse that was stung by it went mad before dying 'within two hours'.
There’s even been at least one report of suicide. Australian former serviceman Cyril Bromley claimed in 1994 that an officer shot himself after using the plant 'for toilet purposes'.
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The story is unproven, however, with researchers reporting in 2013 that only one person has died after being stung by the Gympie-Gympie back in 1922 in New Guinea.
Nevertheless, the plant isn't something you'd want to mess with, as some who who have had a brush with it have described touching it as 'like being burned by hot acid and electrocuted at the same time'.
So naturally a YouTuber decided to test it out and has now revealed exactly how it feels.
In a video by The Backyard Scientist, the creator, alongside one of his friends, touched the plant for half a second before saying it was like 'a bee sting' that feels 'tight.'
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He then described the sensation as being like 'hand sanitiser in an open wound'.
In agony, the pair then tried various methods to ease the pain.
A dilute solution of hydrochloric acid made it even worse.
Next, they tried water which evidently made the pain worse as the pair started screaming intensely.
They then tried cooling it — testing the arms with an infrared sensor showed the stung arm was emitting intense heat — which they claim took the pain 'to a 10'.
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Nothing would stop the pain.
Overall, the pair rated the Gympie-Gympie's sting as an 8/10 on the pain scale, but said the pain began to wear off the following day as long as you didn't get it wet or cold.
The aftermath of the sting lasted a whopping two months, however, leading the pair to destroy the plant via various weird and wonderful methods, including a flamethrower.
So yeah, if you come across a Gympie-Gympie growing in you back garden, don't touch it.