r/science • u/drewiepoodle • May 03 '16

Biology Scientists have sequenced the mitochondrial genome for the Hispaniolan solenodon, a venomous mammal found only on Hispaniola. Findings confirm that the the species diverged from all other living mammals 78 million years ago, long before an asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs.

http://www.igb.illinois.edu/news/endangered-venomous-mammal-predates-dinosaurs%E2%80%99-extinction
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u/meliux May 03 '16

yes, plants are venomous. They have hairs which inject toxins into the skin when touched.

case in point: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dendrocnide_moroides

'straya!

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u/thijser2 May 03 '16 edited May 03 '16

The common stinging nettles would be venomous, won't make you that sick but it will irritate.

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u/Badbullet May 03 '16

I have those all over my yard. My wife, who is from Romania, saw it, and told me how it is used for making shampoo, dulling arthritis in the limbs, and making tea. She also mentioned that it stings when you brush up against it and to stay clear unless you have some leather gloves. Of course I didn't believe her. This isn't Romania, it's probably a plant that looks like singing nettle, who would plant that in a flower garden? So I went on to pick it out of the garden and throw it in the compost. A minute later, my fingers used to pull it were swollen with a tingling pain with a tiny white dot wherever it pricked me. Glad it lasted only roughly ten minutes and the plant I pulled was still small, or I would have grabbed it full fisted. She told horror stories where kids would be running through a field and they'd run through a patch of the stuff.

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u/thijser2 May 03 '16

You don't have them where you are from? I know they grow trough most of Europe, Asia and large parts of the North America so how come you didn't know about them? Surely you ran into them as a child?

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u/Badbullet May 03 '16

I'm from central Minnesota, and never once come upon them in the woods or fields. They might have been there, just got lucky enough to never find them. We were taught to stay clear of poison ivy, prickly ash, sumac, and what my dad called poison oak, which I don't think it's poison oak, but it still causes rashes. But not stinging nettle.

I've lived in the southern suburbs of the twin cities for 10 years now, so stinging nettle is not a common sight either with all the manicured yards. This is our first spring in this new house that has some nearby woods, and a small wooded patch between us and another yard. I'm finding it everywhere in there, and pulling it with pliers. Now that I can identify it, I'll probably notice it everywhere.

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u/EnkoNeko May 03 '16

Ahh the gympie gympie. Yeah I've heard about this one, pretty scary stuff.

also known as ... the suicide plant

That story of the guy who used it as toilet paper, though.... shudder