The killer thistle...are you experienced?

SitaParityaga

I haven't seen this mentioned in any threads to date, so I thought I'd bring it up to see if people have had any experiences with this extremely painful thistle plant, and to caution those travellers who may be unaware of them.

I was warned by a fellow traveller to watch out for this thistle, which grows up in the hills of UP. Then I fell into one them....and it was incredibly painful, to say the least. The closest thing I can think of to describe it is a jellyfish sting...lots of jellyfish stings.

Has anyone run into these thistle plants?

Bryan

I take it your not speaking of the common stinging nettle
Nature has a way of balancing things out
For a nettle sting rub a doc leaf on the area affected ...
Doc leafs grow where you find nettles
its the wide low growing green leaves. Break the leaf strunch up and rub on the area ...the sting is away in 5 minutes

So perhaps someone knows of the antidote for this thistle

Bryan

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(As come it will for a' that),
That Sense and Worth o'er a' the earth,
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For a' that, an a' that,
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Alan D

I haven't heard of a stinging thistle - it's more likely that the plant is the stinging nettle which is quite common in the Himalayas and generally found in wet places.

I've eaten it in Nepal where the tops of the plant are cooked with some spices and served up with rice and dal. It's supposed to be very nutritious - high in minerals and vitimins, like spinach.

As Bryan says the leaf of a dock plant is used as an antidote in parts of UK. I've been stung many times - painful, but it doesn't last long and I'm not aware of any longterm effects.

I would think the local people in the Indian hills would have their own method of treating nettle stings. Does anyone know?

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What a long strange trip it's been!

Bryan

My son regularly got stung by them playing with the local kids and we taught him the doc leaf trick ...they grow in the Himmies as well and seem to do the trick just as well as they do here.

In scotland we make a great nettle soup ....if ever you get the chance to try it do ...Dont ask me the recipe as I dont know it
but I'd imagine it has nettle leaves and water added to it at some point

Bryan

abracax

I have it on good authority that the nettles in India are much more irritating than those in other parts of the world. My own non-systematic tests have confirmed this. Ouch!

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Bryan

Having tested both I have to say there really isn't much difference in them

SitaParityaga

What I ran into looked like a flowering plant: like a miniature artichoke, with small purple thistles (nettles, whatever!).

So for those people who trot around in the foothills of the Himalayas...lookout!

I will cruise around the internet and see if there is a picture of one....I'd also like to see the "cure" plant, the doc leaf?

SitaParityaga

This is NOT the Indian nettle I'm talking about:

http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/y...2600110200.htm

Cat lovers should check out this link....very interesting!

cyberhippie

AAAhhh jaggy nettles!!

SitaParityaga

"That burning sensation, caused by our common nettles, lasts only aboutÊ
20 minutes and is not serious but some of the tropical species are farÊ
more dangerous. Their stings vary in severity from those produced byÊ
bees and wasps to what happens when bit by a venomous snake. OneÊ
nettle, on Timor, causes a condition like lockjaw which may last forÊ
weeks or months. Another, in Java, is frequently fatal.

The Nettle Family -- and this is surprising -- includes the elms,Ê
hackberries, mulberries, osage orange, hops and Indian hemp orÊ
marijuana."

from the Nature Bulletin No. 426-AÊÊ September 25, 1971
Forest Preserve District of Cook County

Alan D

Sounds like it was a thistle after all. I think the confusion ensued because you said you were stung.

The pain from nettle stings is from the formic acid injected into the skin.

The pain from thistles would be just the penetration of the skin by the thistle's sharp thorns.

It's never happened to me but I'm quite prepared to believe that falling into a bed of thistles would be quite painful.

I'll be in Himachal Pradesh in a few months time and will try to get a photo to add to this thread.

I don't think the dock leaf would help in this case.

Bryan

Yep
Sounds like the nettle was a red herring
Be interesting to see these little blighters ...or are they big?
Why do I keep picturing the Day of the Triffids when i think of these thistles?!!!?

paan wallah

just found this in my collection...

Attached Thumbnails

 

cyberhippie

Jeez is that amazing or what??
Sometimes this place feels like the center of the world for the traveller in India!!!

SitaParityaga

Eek......that's IT paan wallah! Just looking at it brought back the memory of it....(and a foggy memory at that.. It doesn't look like a thistle.)

So everyone who is romping around the rhodedendrons of Nainital...look out for these!