“Gympie” is a powerful swear-word in the local aboriginal language (like “Fucking cunt!”) and in that language, repeating a word twice is like amplifying it 10x. They named this tree the most aggressive swear they could come up with.
The tree is covered in tiny hypodermic needle-like hairs. Brushing against it leaves you coated in these hairs which inflict a pain that has been described as like being burned with fire, except with fire, your nerve endings are eventually destroyed. Not so with the Gympie-Gympie.
Pain from an encounter has been known to last for months or years. There is a story of a soldier on patrol who used it’s leaves as toilet paper. He committed suicide after a few weeks. There’s a report of a horse which brushed one of these trees, and it went mad and ran nonstop until it found a cliff and ran right over the edge to its death.
Gympie-Gympie leaves would make the most cursed glitter imaginable
Those leaves remind me of stinging nettles… I’m sure Gympie-Gympie is worse, but my first time being stung by nettles scared the shit out of me as they got me clear through my jeans.
In Australia there’s a tree called Gympie-Gympie.
“Gympie” is a powerful swear-word in the local aboriginal language (like “Fucking cunt!”) and in that language, repeating a word twice is like amplifying it 10x. They named this tree the most aggressive swear they could come up with.
The tree is covered in tiny hypodermic needle-like hairs. Brushing against it leaves you coated in these hairs which inflict a pain that has been described as like being burned with fire, except with fire, your nerve endings are eventually destroyed. Not so with the Gympie-Gympie.
Pain from an encounter has been known to last for months or years. There is a story of a soldier on patrol who used it’s leaves as toilet paper. He committed suicide after a few weeks. There’s a report of a horse which brushed one of these trees, and it went mad and ran nonstop until it found a cliff and ran right over the edge to its death.
Gympie-Gympie leaves would make the most cursed glitter imaginable
New fear unlocked Jesus Christ
Those leaves remind me of stinging nettles… I’m sure Gympie-Gympie is worse, but my first time being stung by nettles scared the shit out of me as they got me clear through my jeans.
Wikipedia says it’s in the nettle family, so you’re not wrong