Urtica Gigas

Natural order , Urticaceæ.

The stinging tree of North Australia.

Authority.

Cassell's Illustrated Travels (New Remedies, vol. 4, 1875, p. 353), effects of touching the leaf.

• It causes most acute pain, which is felt for months afterwards, a dull gnawing pain, accompanied by a burning sensation, particularly in the shoulder and under the arm, where small lumps often arise. Even when the sting has quite died away, the unwary bushman is forcibly reminded of his indiscretion each time that the affected part is brought into contact with water. I have never known a case of its being fatal to human beings, but I have seen people subjected by it to great suffering, notably a scientific gentleman, who plucked off a branch and carried it some distance as a curiosity, wondering the while what caused the pain and numbness in his arm.