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Video: Why you don't want to get stung by a Gympie Gympie

THE GYMPIE GYMPIE STINGING tree (Dendrocnide moroides) is generally considered to have the most painful sting of any Australian plant, but a chance finding at the Cape Tribulation Tropical Research Station suggests some trees may have lost their sting.

Hugh's guess is there is no evolutionary benefit for the tree to produce venom Converse Leather White Womens if its original predator no longer feeds on it. Smaller creatures like insects and some native animals often eat the Gympie Gympie without any harm.

as "nettles on steroids"), either while testing a successful treatment for the stings or accidentally walking into the leaves.

But the specific chemicals responsible for so much misery remain poorly understood, hence Hugh and Vivian's interest. It's Hugh's estimation that a peptide called moroidin, together with a cocktail of common neurotransmitters such as histamine, are responsible for the pain.

Gympie Gympie: once stung, never forgotten

Hugh is interested in continuing this research and is looking for more non venomous trees, but a lack of any simple chemical test for the venom is slowing the progress. Other challenges include the need to find another researcher with interest in the venom and skills in the High Pressure Liquid Chromatography, as well as obtaining more funding.

Gympie losing its sting

Unfortunately that tree was destroyed by the Council road crew, and another non venomous tree they Converse Purple Low Top

But to his surprise, the walloping pain never arrived when a sample of the venom from this tree was tested on Hugh's skin. In disgust at the lack of results, he says, he went and rubbed the fresh leaf on his arm only to find no reaction there either.

In the case of the stingless trees, the stinging hairs were still present and the leaves looked identical to other potent trees. This indicates an adaptation in the chemical structure of the venom, or a physical change to stop producing it altogether.

found was destroyed by cyclone Yasi, so the research is on hold.

the stinging trees to deliver their potent punch their stems and broad, heart shaped leaves are covered in hollow silica hairs, which when touched, break off at the tip and inject venom. The hairs can cause long lasting (in some cases for months and even years) intense pain, since they become embedded in the skin.

Gallery: Gympie Gympie "stings like hot acid"Gympie Gympie losing its sting?

Hugh was helping with research into the venom by then student Vivian Kong Tse Lam, taking extreme while care collecting leaves from a tree growing by a road near the station. They were using high pressure liquid chromatography to separate the chemicals in the venom, as well as testing the reaction to samples on Hugh's skin.

Scientists have determined the mechanism used by Converse Shoes For Men White

One day in 2006, when director of the research station, Hugh Spencer, volunteered to have the usually excruciating venom rubbed onto his skin, he expected overwhelming pain. Hugh has been stung countless times by the Gympie Gympie (or what he refers to Converse Dainty Grey Womens