Deadly Beauty

The stinging tree, stinging bush, or gympie-gympie, is a plant in the nettle family. It is notorious for its extremely painful and long-lasting sting. The common name gympie-gympie comes from the language of the Indigenous Gubbi Gubbi people of south-eastern Queensland.

The Stinging tree starts as a straggly perennial understory shrub, usually flowering and fruiting when less than 3 m (10 ft) tall, but it may reach up to 10 m (33 ft) in height. The stem, branches, petioles, leaves, and fruits are all covered in stinging hairs.

The fruit of this species is an achene (a tiny seed-like fruit), produced in number in a globular structure which is pink to light-purple in colour and has an appearance similar to a mulberry.

Very few animals can this fruit, but the Regent Bower Bird and the Pademelon both seem to be immune to its venom.

This painting is a watercolour on rice paper using hot wax as a resist to create the background. The painting is framed in an MDF black frame with a white matt. It is 43 X 43 cm.