The process of natural selection and evolution have given the Earth some of the most unique forms of life that could ever be imagined.
The divergences that occur in the natural world can often go against the common sense of primal beliefs about how the world works and always results in forms of life that are so unique and strange they form an ecosystem around themselves rather than struggle to fit into an established one.
And we’re discovering new uses for them day by day. Some of these natural wonders, however, are harmful to the point where they’re downright evil.
The self-defensive mechanisms of certain plants cause us to wonder how or why such things even exist in the wild, what true purpose they serve, and to whom?
What are the up-sides to something called “The Suicide Plant” with a reputation for having a sensation so painful it drives men to want to die rather than put up with its body-eroding itchiness?
Was it created to torment us or punish us for wandering too far into the depths of nature’s bounty?
10 /10 By Any Other Name
Dendrocnide Moroides is the scientific name for what is more commonly known as gympie-gympie, named by the indigenous Gubbi Gubbi tribal people of Australia.
Its other name is “Stinger,” due to its reputation of stinging anyone that touches it with fine, silica hairs that inject a horrifyingly painful substance into the body.
It’s taller than a bush but also not always as tall, looking like a tree, and is therefore classified as a “shrub.”
9 /10 Looks Are Deceiving
One of the shrub’s names is the Mulberry-Leaved Stinger, and its taxonomy of “Moroides” derives from the genus Morus, the flowering trees that primarily include Mulberries.
The plant leaves have a rounded, ovalish shape with a tip along the step and tiny serrated frills along the sides. They’re also covered in a skinny layer of hair, which is their main lethal point.
The leaves grow out in clusters of stems and “branches” as the tree matures and grows into splitting stalks, always looking like a very tall sapling.