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Urtica Ferox Fierce Nettle Ongaonga Seeds
Packet of 100+ seeds of this very angry and very dangerous plant.
I must stress first of all this is one purely for responsible collectors due to it’s dangerous, potentially fatal natural attributes. DO NOT TOUCH EVER!!!
If you plan on touching it, or putting it in a place where others can, do not buy the seeds from me. I don’t have time for drama or nonsense.
THIS IS NOT “Stinging nettle“, the smaller, fairly harmless medicinal herb. This is “Fierce nettle” the homicidal NZ native shrub.
By purchasing this product you agree to grow it responsibly, away from members of the public, in a contained area that animals and children and even foolish adults cannot access. I do not need dramas folks, so if you are not sure you are the right type of person to own this plant, then please do not buy it.
First of all, I know folks are gonna ask “Why would you want to grow that?” so I will just answer now to save me some time. Some folks have pet snakes, some folks have tigers, some folks bungie jump, some folks do triathlon, some folks are stock market traders or investment bankers, some folks sell stuff door to door, some folks are outlaws, I just grow cool plants, the more extreme and varied the better.
Nature in all her amazing forms, I find it fascinating, and this is one of my absolute favourites.
It is a native to New Zealand and really quite spectacular to look at.
A quick glance at the huge glassy, venom filled needles that cover the entire plant tells you straight away that touching isn’t a good idea.
It has killed horses and dogs in the past, even the odd person who was unlucky enough to venture into thickets of them.
I was wearing thick leather gloves while repotting seedlings and can say from experience that the pain was remarkable, undescribably shocking.
Overwhelmingly terrifying, and like a chook with its head cut off I jumped up knocked the table over, ran several meters before falling to the ground and kinda fitting/twitching a little..
Made a weird moan that I am sure I have never made before or since to which is kinda funny to remember.
Not my finest moment, glad no-one saw.
I’m a pretty big dude and I like to think I have a decent pain tolerance, but I honestly though I was to die, couldn’t even speak or move for a minute or so, my only thought was to say sorry to the Mrs for being so careless, but no way of even getting the words out.
Forget tazers, or pepper spray, this fella beats it by a mile.
5-15minutes later(hard to say), I had an itchy finger like a bee sting but all else was back to normal, and I honestly felt great. Finger gradually got even itchier later that night and I ended up taking an antihistamine which I hardly ever do.
Just itchy though, and a rolling sort of pins and needles feeling, but no real “Pain” after the initial wack.
Couple days later all back to normal, well sort of.
The only long term side effect I did notice was the next couple days I felt taller..
Hard to explain, and I couldn’t really work out why, but my back felt straight and my felt shoulders wide. I felt strong like an ox. I felt bloody awesome!
The following week I found myself digging holes far longer than I normally did, but I just put it down to a new appreciation for life? It had been a stressful few days…
Then I worked it out! My shoulders didn’t hurt, my wrist didn’t either!! That may sound like nothing to most folks, but my shoulders are pretty buggered. Years of picking fruit is a bit rough on the body. Especially my left one from “cutting and humping” bananas, and there is always a stiffness and dull ache that never really goes away. It’s only a 0.5/10 for pain, nothing really, not even worth whinging about, but it’s there all the time, well it was?
Couple months later I still felt great.
I have heard of bee stings for arthritic conditions and I figure this must have been the same sort of thing. The shock to the system reset things, stuffed with the pain receptors, shook up the system? Just a guess.
Whatever it was, I am glad it happened, but let me stress it was not intentional, and I do not encourage or recommend it in any way.
Remember, it can be deadly, as in, it may bloody kill you if you touch it.
I am sure if I had a weaker heart, or had been allergic that would have been that. Even had I just hit my head on a rock on the way down. Game over.
Also remember I was wearing thick leather gardening gloves and was stung accidentally, only a little, by one or two individual needles that passed right through the thick leather into the back of my finger.
One needle, once, not the hundreds that may get you if you brush up against it or poke it ungloved. (Studies show only five needles are needed to reliably kill a guinea pig.)
Also, the needles break off and remain active in the gloves, or whatever touches them, for some time. So treat it as dangerous too. Everything you touch, that has touched it, or been anywhere near it, may have the shards, so be bloody careful!
You really need full hazmat gear to handle this fella!!!
The internet tells me that the hollow needles are loaded with Formic acid(the stuff ants spray), Serotonin(a mood stabilizing chemical that causes severe pain when injected), Histamine(an irritant that creates an immune response, and is the cause of stuff like hay fever and hives) and Acetylcholine(a neurotransmitter used at the neuromuscular junction. The chemical that motor neurons of the nervous system release in order to activate muscles. Hence, after a quick ungraceful sprint, I fell down with a thump).
This plant has been known to cause Polyneuropathy which is damage or a disease affecting peripheral nerves causing weakness, numbness, pins and needles, and burning pain. (sounds familiar..)
While my experience was not the same, this a run down of effects I found online>>>
“Symptoms: immediately painful, burning sensation and numbness.
15–20 minutes abdominal cramps, strong burning sensation in feet, visual blurring.
60–90 minutes weakness, exhaustion, confusion, pale skin, sweating, salivating, cramps, breathing problems, loss of eye sight, problems to keep the body warm, problems to control movements of arms and legs.
The effects of a Tree Nettle sting can last for about three days.”
Impressive hey, she is certainly an angry plant this one!
Amazingly there are still a few animals that will eat it mostly caterpillars, but also the Australian brushtail possums, goats and deer.
There you have it, Urtica Ferox!
Grown by me and the Mrs organically, no chems, no nasties, no problems!!!
