THE STINGING TREE.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1270, 3 May 1880, Page 3

THE STINGING TREE.

vThoOghthe tropical scrubs of Queensi—a an T ery luxuriant. and beautiful, they are not without their dangerous drawbacks, for there is one plant growing in •*■*"« is really deadly in its effects—that is to say, deadly m the same way that one would apply to the term to fire ; as, if » certain proportion of one's body is burnt by the stinging tree, death will, be | the molt. It would be ss safe to pass tfrwwgfc fires as to fall into one of these trees. They .are found growing from two to three inches high to ten and fifteen feet; in the old ones the stem is whitish, and red berries usually grow on the top. It emits a peculiar disagreeable smell, but it is best known by its leaf, which is nearly round, having a point on the top, and is jagged all round the edge, like the nettle. All the leaves are large—some-larger than a saucec.. ".Sometimes," says a traveller, "while shooting turkeys in the scrubs I have entirety forgotten the tree till warned of its close proximity by its smell, and I have then found myself in a little forest of them. I was only once stung, and that was very lightly. Its effects are curious. It leaves no mark, but- the pain is maddening, and for months afterwards the part, when touched, is tender in rainy weather,- or when it gets wet in washing, £c. , I have seen a man who treats ordinary pain lightlyroll on the ground in agony after being stung; and I have known a hone so completely mad after getting into a grove of the trees, that he roshed: open-mouthed at everyone who approached him, and had to be shot in the scrub. Dogs when stung will rush sbout, whining piteously, biting pieces from the affected-part." The small stinging: trees, a few inches high, are as dangerous as any, being so-hard to see, and seriously. imperilling one's ankles. The scrub is usually growing among palm trees. ■ : "