Page 6 - My FlipBook

The identity of the poison is a mystery. One researcher actually purified the poison and—
foolishly—injected it into himself. He suffered horribly. But he did prove that the poison, and not
the sharp hairs, cause most of the pain.
What’s more, you can suffer just from breathing near a stinging tree. The plant sheds
stinging hairs into the air. Those hairs can cause an allergic reaction or a nosebleed. Hurley’s
first encounter hurled her into a sneezing fit. Her eyes and nose ran for hours.
Hurley eventually figured out how to work near such a dangerous tree. She strapped on a
surgical mask to breathe safely, and she pulled on thick welding gloves to handle the leaves.
Still, she was stung at least ten times. Her worst sting came when she dropped her glove on the
ground. “As I picked it up, I drove my finger right through a dead leaf that was curled up on the

Hollow silica hairs are filled with a powerful poison. The identity of the poison is a mystery.

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