Gympie-gympie plant offered for sale in United States, horrifying Australian botanical enthusiasts

In a move that has horrified Australian botanical enthusiasts, an American is selling seeds to a Queensland plant with a sting that has been compared to being electrocuted and doused in acid.

Gympie-gympie, a toxic Australian native plant, on show in the UK. Picture: The Alnwick Garden

In a move that has horrified Australian botanical enthusiasts, an American is selling seeds to a Queensland plant with a sting that has been compared to being electrocuted and doused in acid.

In an online post, the woman is offering seeds harvested from her gympie-gympie plants to potential customers in the United States.

“Not for households with children,” she is advertising online.

“Not for households with free-range animals such as cats or dogs unless you take the effort to fully protect both the plant and the animals.”

Gympie-Gympie, also known as the suicide plant because the prolonged pain it causes makes victims want to kill themselves, is endemic to Queensland.

The seller, who identifies herself as a “US-based invertebrate and reptile keeper”, urges potential customers to do their due diligence before any purchase.

“It is not a species for the faint of heart,” she wrote on Reddit.

“This is a high-risk plant and must be treated with proper respect and care.”

Reddit user Sssatanisreal, who identifies herself as a “US-based invertebrate and reptile keeper”, is offering the highly toxic gympie-gympie plant for sale in the United States. She deleted her post and her profile overnight Saturday. Picture: Reddit

The amateur herpetologist aptly named ‘sssatanisreal’ says she can ship fresh seeds or berries “for you to harvest seeds from yourself”.

Users of the Australian Plants sub-Reddit where the advertisement was posted were appalled, with one poster demanding law-enforcement authorities intervene.

Another redditor – a collective name used by Reddit users – warned against the distribution of the plant in the United States.

They warned, “You must understand that you are risking potential ecological catastrophe if this tree naturalizes in a suitable climate.”

“The fruit are very attractive to birds (in the same way the distantly related common mulberry is) and Gympie-Gympie’s ecological role is as a forest pioneer.”

The redditor wrote that a number of Australian plant or tree species were already considered invasive in American states, “notably Hawaii, California, Florida and Texas”.

Gympie-gympie is a toxic Australian native plant. Picture: The Alnwick Garden

Another poster asked why Americans considered it a “smart idea to keep things like this”?

“To me it’s the same as keeping dangerous animals because ‘I’m an American and you can’t impinge my freedoms’.”

According to victims, the sting from the suicide plant is “like being burned by hot acid and electrocuted at the same time” and can last months with residual pain sometimes lasting years.

An Australian victim of a gympie-gympie sting on New Year’s Day this year said sssatanisreal was insane for growing the plant and “potentially distributing it to other areas”.

“It’s only just stopped randomly hurting,” they wrote on Saturday, four months after being stung.

“My skin still has weird markings from where the three leaves got me,” they said.

“Worst pain of my life.

“You’re nuts for keeping this plant.”

The post was removed overnight Saturday and sssatanisreal deleted her Reddit profile.

Originally published as Gympie-gympie plant offered for sale in United States, horrifying Australian botanical enthusiasts