66 
C. T. WHITE MEMORIAL LECTURE FOR 1955 
AUSTRALIAN STINGING TREES 
W. D. Francis 
Plants with stinging hairs ore not very singular in the vegetable 
kingdom as they occur in at least three widely-separated plant families, 
namely, the Nettle family (Urticaceae), the Loasa family (Loasaceae) and 
the Poinsettia family (Euphorbiaceae). 
Ausfralian stinging trees belong to the Nettle family, and all three 
of them are species of the genus Lapartca. In the world there are ever 30 
species of this genus and they are mostly found in the warmer regions. 
With very few exceptions they are tiees or shrubs. Fourteen species of 
Laportco have been recorded for New Guinea. 
One of the three Australian species (Laportea moroides) is barely a 
tree and rarely exceeds 10 feet in height. It is popularly referred to as 
Gympie on the North Coast Line of Queensland. As this name has now 
passed into popular usage it may be as well to maintain it. However, 
Mr. Jack Waller of “ Neusa Vale" informs me that the name Gimpi Gimpi 
of the aborigines was applied to the Shining-leaved Stinging Tree and that 
the name of the Queensland town of Gympie wos derived from this 
aboriginal name. Inquiries at the Oxley Memorial Library confirmed that 
the name of the town of Gympie is derived from the aboriginal name of 
a stinging nettle. 
The three native stinging trees are: Giant Stinging Tree (Loporteo 
gigas), Gympie (Laportea moroides) and Shining-leaved Stinging Tree 
(Laportea photiniphylla). All three species are denizens of the rain-forests 
of Eastern Australia. 
The possession of stinging hairs on the green parts is an important 
feature In the recognition of Australian stinging trees. However, the 
shining-leaved stinging tree is sometimes seen without very obvious stinging 
hairs. All three species have leaves placed alternately on the branchlets. 
All three have very soft woods. Finely and neatly toothed leaf margins are 
almost always present in the giant stinging tree and the Gympie, but they 
are sometimes absent in the shining-leaved stinging tree (see figs 1 2 
3, 4). ' ' 
All three species are described in ''Ausfrolian Rain-Forest Trees'' (3) 
and the two tree species are figured there. The three Australian stinging 
trees can be readily separated from each other by their mature leaves. In 
the shining-leaved stinging tree they are almost always under 4 inches in 
breadth. The two other species mostly have mature leaves over 4 inches 
in breadth. The leaves of the Gympie are neatly distinguished from those 
of the giant stinging tree by the insertion of the leaf stalk on the underside 
of the leaf mostly within the margin of the leaf, a condition described as 
peltate in botanical terminology (see figs. 1 - 4). 
The giant stinging tree is the largest and attains a height of 120 
feet and a stem diameter of over 6 feet. The shining-leaved stinging tree 
grows to about 90 feet in height and about 2 feet 6 inches in stem 
diameter. The height of the Gympie, as already mentioned, is up to about 
10 feet. The fruits of all three species are fleshy. In the giant stinging 
tree they are greenish white or pink and acid to the taste. In the shining- 
leaved stinging tree they are greenish white and acid in flavour. In the 
Gympie they are attractively pale mauve and insipid or slightly sweet. 
Distribution 
The giant stinging tree ranges from the Victorian border to Imbil, 
south of Gympie. The Gympie extends from the Tweed River to Cape 
York Peninsula in the north. The shining-leaved stinging tree is found 
as far south as Bateman's Bay in southern New South Wales and as far 
north as Atherton in north Queensland. 
