She needed hospitalization once.
But Gympie-Gympie is the worst of its kind.
The entire plant is covered in small needle-like hairs.
Researchers have reported that even dried leaves can have their hairs full of toxin.
An electron micrograph of stinging hairs.
Photo: Marina Hurley
Leaves of Gympie-Gympie.
Worse still, the plant constantly sheds its needles like a cat shedding fur.
Marina Hurley was exposed to airborne hairs over a long period of time.
She suffered sneezing fits, watery eyes and nose, and eventually developed an allergy that required medical attention.
During early attempts to separate stinging hairs from dried leaves, dust and presumably some hairs were inhaled.
My mouth and tongue swelled up so much that I had trouble breathing.
It was debilitating and I had to blunder my way out of the bush.
I think I went into anaphylactic shock and it took days for my sight to recover.
Marina Hurley wearing a particle face mask and welding gloves works with stinging trees.
Photo: Marina Hurley
Tales of the Gympie-Gympies encounter with humans are fascinating.
The pain was so terrible that he ended up shooting himself.
Surprisingly, despite being such a toxic plant, Gympie-Gympie is also food for some animals.
They are also consumed voraciously by the red-legged pademelons that can strips entire plants of their leaves overnight.
