from the now-imagine-a-venomous...Ent dept.
Australia Has Venomous Snakes, Spiders, And... Trees:
From snakes and spiders to jellyfish and cone snails, Australia has no shortage of venomous animals. As new research published in Science Advances shows, Australia even harbors venomous plants belonging to the Dendrocnide genus, namely Dendrocnide excelsa and Dendrocnide moroide, both of which are known as "gympie-gympie" in the local indigenous Gubbi Gubbi language.
[...] Dendrocnide plants are "notorious for producing [an] excruciatingly painful sting, which unlike those of their European and North American relatives can cause symptoms that last for days or weeks," Irina Vetter, a co-author of the study, explained in a press release. Similar to other nettles, the stinging tree "is covered in needle-like appendages called trichomes that are around five millimetres in length," she said. They look like fine hairs but "actually act like hypodermic needles that inject toxins when they make contact with skin," said Vetter, an associate professor at the University of Queensland.
[...] In the state of Queensland, it is not uncommon to find warning signs along forest tracks, alerting unwary visitors to the presence of Dendrocnide species and the potency of their sting. This signage is justified given that D. moroides has been implicated in hospitalization of two individuals requiring intensive care for 36 hours who suffered from acute pain that reportedly did not respond to morphine and ongoing symptoms lasting months. This long-lasting pain is also typical of other Dendrocnide species stings, with episodic pain typically subsiding over several weeks, although [painful tingling and prickling sensations] may persist longer.
[...] As the new research shows, this toxin makes permanent alterations to the sodium channels in sensory neurons. Sodium channels are a membrane protein that play a critical role in the formation of pain, which they do through the excitation of neurons. In tests, gympietides was shown to activate the sensory neurons of mice and then prevent them from shutting back down. So this venom—in addition to generating the pain signals—interrupts the mechanism responsible for stopping those signals. That is, in a word, nasty, and it explains why pain sometimes lasts so long after the encounter with the tree.
Journal Reference:
Edward K. Gilding, Sina Jami, Jennifer R. Deuis, et al. Neurotoxic peptides from the venom of the giant Australian stinging tree [open], Science Advances (DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abb8828)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 26 2020, @04:25AM
American man shows Crocodile Dundee a stinging nettle.
"Aww, that's not a nettle."
Dundee reaches behind his back and shoves into American man's face: "THIS is a nettle!"
(Score: 3, Touché) by fido_dogstoyevsky on Saturday September 26 2020, @04:51AM (2 children)
This is Soylent News.
...and?
Where's the "news"?
It's NOT a conspiracy... it's a plot.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 26 2020, @07:04AM
Why did not we accept the original submitter, instead of the later ed submitter? Is there some bias and prejudice here on SoylentNews? Is it the case that over one hundred aristarchus submissions have been rejected since July? And is it not the case, that some of those must have been about venomous trees in the alt-right or White supperism communitarians? #FreeSoylentNews!!!!1!!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 26 2020, @09:05AM
"Damn nature, you scary"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 26 2020, @05:05AM (1 child)
The criminality bleeds into the nature. Evil begets evil.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 26 2020, @05:58AM
> Australia has Venomous Snakes, Spiders, and… Trees
Bloody bastards that live there too, mate.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Saturday September 26 2020, @05:07AM (6 children)
Here in Murica, we have venomous women to put up against all of Australia's critters.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 26 2020, @05:35AM (2 children)
If the mere touch of her short, stiff hairs on your bare skin causes you to cry out in pain and erupt in blisters, I'm afraid plain old penecilin might not be strong enough to cure you.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday September 26 2020, @05:51AM (1 child)
Oh no, it's the fangs, and the medusa gaze that gets you.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 26 2020, @07:07AM
Runaway the Emasculate! No more balls! Scared of immigrants, Muslins, calico, antifa, and of course American justice, where we hang him for treason. Interesting to see how this all plays out, when the Trumpsters realize they are the same 12% that supported Dubya, at the end, and then, kinda faded away. Keep yer stickers, Runaway, so we'all can find you, after.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Saturday September 26 2020, @11:01PM (2 children)
Someone's salty about the ex-wife dumping his ass again I see :) Gee I wonder why any woman would ever consider leaving you...
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday September 26 2020, @11:19PM (1 child)
Once again, you're being a silly bitch. Oh well, when you're feeling silly, that's the way it is.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Saturday September 26 2020, @11:58PM
It's easy to tell when I've struck a nerve. You really are transparent, Runaway. Go chew your liver some more.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by Pav on Sunday September 27 2020, @01:16PM
...if this is what they call "suicide bush". I've never come across it myself. Where I'm from there's a tree with vicious recurve spines they call "wait-a-while" for obvious reasons, but it's certainly not venomous. Yup... it's suicide bush [wikipedia.org], so named because the intensity and duration of the pain has been supposedly enough to induce suicide.