Botanical name Dendrocnide excelsa
A common name Giant Stinging Tree
Seedling
Not yet.
Young plant
Not yet.
Juvenile
All of our Dendrocnide excelsa are in what I would call the juvenile stage. They occur on all properties in the area where they have a chance to grow.
Sassafras has been almost completely cleared at various times in the past century. Dendrocnide excelsa do not like either fire or frost. The former will kill all sizes, latter younger trees, though they will attempt to grow again a few times. The growing tips are very tender, I don't believe they even need a frost to die, just close to 0 celsius seems to be enough.
The vegetation is now dense enough in many places to keep out all but the worst frosts, in a few places it is dense enough enough to keep out fire, in those places there is over 90% shade, very little undergrowth (to me undergrowth is up to about 5 metres above ground level) apart from mosses and ferns, scattered Settlers Flax and scattered young trees waiting for a gap in the canopy. Leaf litter is very thin, in this kind of humid environment it rots very quickly.
Now, back to Dendrocnide excelsa.
Reasonably mature
Sassafras
Warning - The leaves and stems of this tree deliver an excruciating sting, rather like multiple Paper Wasp stings (which I have had, below the knee, front and back), under no circumstances touch this tree with bare skin, or rub any part of your clothing that have come in contact with the fine needles on your skin. Do not bump into small trees, you will be showered with tiny sharp silica needles. Everything on this leaf that is not green is not your friend. The stems are just as bad. You have been warned.
Yes I have been given this "beautifully soft" leaf to feel by my wife, I rubbed it very gently another way and couldn't use my right hand for about 15 minutes, I guess I was lucky, apparently it can last for hours. My left hand was only good for holding my right hand above the stinging and squeezing as hard as I could to try and make it just go away. We discovered the hard way what a Giant Stinging Tree was. There are now warning signs leading into Wingham Brush about Giant Stinging Trees.
Why leave these trees? They are excellent habitat trees for many many species other than Homo sapiens and they also block out light very quickly. Like Snakes and Spiders, they do not chase you, they would sooner you left them alone, they would escape if they could, unlike Leeches and Ticks, who will chase you. Okay, now I'm started on Leeches and Ticks........
Tropcal Strength Aerogard in the gumboots (I wear very thin ankle length socks, I wear gumboots for leg and ankle protection, better all round than gaiters, Sassafras is a land of ridges and gullies with narrow paths, ankles work hard enough, hot gumboots are only a problem out in the open not in the forest) and around the top of the trousers is usually quite sufficient to stop both of them, though I do check my kneck from time to time. In prime Leach weather I'll also spray the brim of my wire edged hat. Why such a stout hat? It keeps the vegetation out of my eyes and most of the Ticks and Leaches away as well. I always wear leather gloves, there a lots of other sharper and more physically vicious plants, that don't sting but will tear you open. I wear microfibre long pants and a one piece microfibre top my wife made for me. Pretty much armour plated I guess. Microfibre breathes well, is light, very hard to puncture in any serious way, drys quickly and lasts for years. Any inner lining in the pants is cut out, too hot.
While I'm on the subject, yes Leeches can make you bleed for a while which can be messy. Powdered Black Pepper is an efficient way to staunch persistent bleeders, under a bandaid to hold it in place. Otherwise just sit or lie down with affected part facing upwards, give the bleeding a chance to stop. (Now don't do this till you've got back to the house or car if away from home, or they'll just find you again, they home in on infra red targets, quickly.) This might take up to 10 or 15 minutes if the hole was made by a big Leech. On a really bad day, if I forgot the Aerogard, I might loose a couple of teaspoons, including the donation to betterment of Leech kind...... Leeches and Ticks are not year round problems, it depends on the weather and the time of year.
Ticks are of more concern. Full stop sized Ticks can, after an hour or two, start to make you feel a little off, enough warning to make you wonder, where are you itchy, where is the red whelt. Apply said Tropical Strength Aerogard, it kills them quickly, drink water. Larger Ticks should be pulled out immediately. If you have fingernails this is easy, take care not to squeeze the Ticks abdomen, this will pour more toxin into you promptly. Grab it by the head parts, which may be hidden by swollen skin, which you might have to squeeze around the edges to reveal them, they do not actually burrow in, except for the mouth parts. Pull, it can take a bit of force to make them disengage, you will hear the click as they let go, they do grip tenaciously.
All of the Ticks in our area are in fact Paralysis Ticks, they change colour as they age, from black to brown to white, when they can be particularly nasty. However, Ticks make their prescence felt if they are of anything beyond tiny, itches, swelling, feeling yuck or off, headache or worse, much worse, if you ignore the symptoms. A couple of big drinks of water are usually enough for us to relieve the symptoms very quickly.
This little tree, about 3 or 4 metres tall, was killed down to ground level by frost a few years ago, it wasn't quite that big then, probably only 2 metres tall. It is unusual not to see at least some of the leaves full of holes from various bug attacks.
The trunk below is from a young tree about 6 metres tall, it has been bitten back by frosts for a few years though the last 3 Winters have been quite mild, it should be safe now.
Dendrocnide excelsa do grow very rapidly given moisture, good soil and warmth. There is some evidence of bug attack on the established leaves.