Ongaonga plant

The thing about the internet is that you never know whether a person is being funny by taking the piss or is for real.....

I'm lost WillEyre, are you being serious with your "It wouldn't stand up in a Court of Law." comment? Prove libel has taken place.

I hope you are recovering well Rotaville. You have my sympathy.

In some ways the sting of Onga onga is like wasp stings as there are three main ingredients in common to them both:
Acetylcholine: contracts skeletal muscle, and inhibits contraction of smooth eg: heart/bowel muscle.
5-hydroxytryptamine (Serotonin): causes pain when injected
histamine: inflames tissue, and causes contractions in smooth muscle

The other ingredients in onga onga are yet to be identified, but those certainly seem enough to me from experience!

Basically, it causes inflammation, cramping and pain.[]

I sometimes call it the overkill plant because I am amazed at how thoroughly it is covered in the stingers, the strength and combination of the active ingredients, and the design of the stinging hairs: the spines have silicon in them to make them brittle, and are designed to break off at the tip, leaving a very sharp slanted tip on a hollow needle, the base of which then shrinks pumping the venom!

Why this plant has such effective defences is intriguing. I wonder whether it was tasty to moa...

Rotaville, I'm glad to hear you are improving - this plant has a 'special' place in my life so I'm always interested in discussions about it!

There are a number of natives in NZ that contain poisons/toxins (Karaka, Ngaio or Tutu for instance), not to mention all the exotic plant species! This thread is a good reminder that we should all be careful about what we touch.

greenfingers;386973 wrote: Rotaville, I'm glad to hear you are improving - this plant has a 'special' place in my life so I'm always interested in discussions about it!

There are a number of natives in NZ that contain poisons/toxins (Karaka, Ngaio or Tutu for instance), not to mention all the exotic plant species! This thread is a good reminder that we should all be careful about what we touch.

Yes, I'll now look at what plants are around before I push through the bush. Just thankful that I was in front and got hit by it and not my daughter.

I'm not against this plant having a place in our environment. It really is a nice looking (in an evil way) plant. I'm just against the pain it gave me lol So.....now that I'm educated by experience, I shall be wary next time.

rotaville;386965 wrote: The thing about the internet is that you never know whether a person is being funny by taking the piss or is for real.....

I'm lost WillEyre, are you being serious with your "It wouldn't stand up in a Court of Law." comment? Prove libel has taken place.

Let me assure you that I wasn't taking the p..s.
My point was that, whilst acknowledging that ongaonga is not a plant that you'd want to stuff your mattress with, it is patently not one that warrants the infamy of being 'the world's most dangerous plant'.
The term 'libel', was a bit poetic, but alludes to the fact that the plant, on the evidence available, does not deserve such a dire reputation, even if Guinness says it does.
My follow-up remark about the evidence 'not standing up in court'
was intended to be tongue in cheek.
Here was a Sunday paper, quoting another publication, which in itself is no authority.
I just don't think Judge Judy would buy it.
I also wonder if Guinness holds this up as a universal truth or whether it was only the worst in 2006, when somebody with a physical vulnerability died from contacting it. Perhaps they have a 'poisonous plant of the year.
In conclusion, I was merely trying to uphold the reputation of our Ongaonga.
Ed