If Touched,
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.
The fruit is of a pink, fleshy colour, hanging in clusters, and
looks so inviting that a stranger is irresistibly tempted to pluck it; but
seldom more than once, for though the raspberry-like berries are harmless
in themselves, some contact with the leaves is almost unavoidable. The
blacks are said to eat the fruit; but for this I cannot vouch, though I
have tasted one or two at odd times, and found them very pleasant. The
worst of this nettle is the tendency it exhibits to shoot up wherever a
clearing has been effected. In passing through the dray tracks cut through
the scrub, great caution was necessary to avoid the young plants that
cropped up even in a few weeks. 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 was
causing the pain and numbness in his arm. Horses I have been die in agony
from the sting, the wounded parts becoming paralysed; but strange to say,
it does not seem to injure cattle, who dash through scrubs full of it
without receiving any damage.
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