Gympie Gympie

It might surprise you to know that the gympie gympie tree I described in Love on a Lute String is a real plant. It’s pretty well-known, too, for causing severe nerve pain for years after stinging its victim (or aggressor, depending on how you look at it).

Doesn’t look like much, does it?

• Australian Geographic article about the gympie gympie
• ABC reports on gympie gympie-related hospitalisations

Technically speaking, the Love on a Lute String group should never have come across this plant. The bulk of the book is set in the equivalent of eastern New South Wales, west of Sydney – around 800km from the nearest gympie gympie tree. However, I used some creative license, and based the northern parts of the map on northern NSW and southern Queensland.