Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 37, Number 7, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 January 1905 — The Stinging Tree. [ARTICLE]

The Stinging Tree.

The stingipg tree of faraway Queensland Is a luxurious shrub, pleasing to the eye, but dangerous to the touch. It grows from two or three Inches to ten or fifteen feet in height and emits a disagreeable odor. A traveler says: "Sometimes while shooting turkeys In the shrubs I entirely forgot the stinging tree till I was warned of its close proximity by its smell and have often found myself In a little forest of them. I was only once stung, and that very lightly. Its effects are curious. It leaves no marks, but the pain is maddening, and for months afterward the part when touched is tender in rainy weather or when it gets wet in washing, etc. I have seen a man who treats ordinary pain lightly roll on the ground In agony after being stung, and I have known a horse so completely mad after getting into a grove of the trees that he rushed open mouthed at every one who approached him and had to be shot. Dogs when stung will rush about, whining piteously, biting pieces from the affected part.”