A MUM who fell into the “world’s most dangerous plant” says she was left in excruciating pain for months
Naomi Lewis suffered a six-month ordeal after falling off her bike and into a gympie-gympie plant in North Queensland last June.
She said the pain was far worse than childbirth.
The gympie-gympie is one of the world’s most venomous and is also known as the “giant Australian stinging tree” or “suicide plant” due to the horrendous pain it causes.
Its scientific name is the Dendrocnide Moroides and is a member of the nettle family, the Urticaceae.
The plant injects venom into the skin of people it comes into contact with and can leave them in terrible pain for up to nine months.
Naomi told ABC the pain was “100 per cent the worst pain ever”.
She said: “The pain was just beyond unbearable.
“The body gets to a pain threshold and then I started vomiting.
“I’ve had four kids – three caesareans and one natural.
“Childbirth, none of them even come close.”
Following her accident, her husband drover her to a pharmacy where she bought hair removal strips to take out the stinging hairs in her skin while they waited for the ambulance to arrive.
At one point, she remembers telling him that she “can’t deal with this”.
Naomi was initially taken to a hospital in Cairns, near to where the accident happened, before being transferred to another hospital for pain treatment.
After seven days, she was able to return home.
She then had to take painkillers and use heat packs for six months to keep the pain out of her legs.
It wasn’t until December last year that she was able to stop taking the pain medication.
Even after that, she said she still experiences pain in parts of her legs under certain conditions.
The gympie-gympie looks rather like a big nettle and has wide, oval or heart-shaped leaves.
It produces fruit that look similar to a raspberry but these are also covered in tiny hairs.
The plant grows in rainforests in Australia and Malaysia and delivers its sting through tiny hair-like needles.
The effect, which intensifies for the first 20 to 30 minutes, has been likened to “being burnt with hot acid and electrocuted at the same time”.
Victims can also suffer sneezing fits, allergies, red rashes and swollen limbs.
Not all those stung end up in hospital but many do have to be treated on wards.
It was discovered in Australia in 1866 when a road surveyor’s horse became crazed after a sting and died within two hours.
Aussie World War Two soldier Cyril Bromley went mad from pain after falling in a clump.
Another shot himself dead after using the nettle as loo roll.
Despite the dangers of the plant a green-fingered gardener has cultivated it at his home in Oxford.
Daniel Emlyn-Jones keeps the feared plant in a cage marked with a danger sign to stop visitors handling it.
The online tutor said his aim is to promote an interest in plants by cultivating unusual flora.
Daniel said: “I don’t want to come over as a loon — I’m doing it very safely.
“Some botanic gardens have these plants as interesting specimens.”
