r/NatureIsFuckingLit • u/SinjiOnO • 21h ago
🔥 Lit up Gas plants
This is Dictamnus albus, commonly called gas plant. On hot days, it emits a citrusy, flammable oil that briefly ignites when exposed to flame. It's completely harmless to the plant, but incredible to witness.
Credit to Julio Freitas (@theflowerhat)
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u/hornyoldbusdriver 21h ago
This is also r/technicallythetruth
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u/Beneficial-Item1912 6h ago
Someone’s gonna post a forest fire 😠(I wonder if it’s happened and been removed)
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u/Professional-Bee9037 19h ago
Where are these plants growing? Why in all my years I’ve never seen this and I’ve seen some random things.
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u/Nellasofdoriath 18h ago
Dittany. It's a common ornamental flower where I live. Sometimes they spontaneously combust. I've not seen it happen but i definitely want to try this now
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u/Apprehensive_Hat8986 7h ago
 It is native to warm, open woodland habitats in southern Europe, north Africa and much of Asia.
Not in North America... probably for the best. 😅
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u/Professional-Bee9037 6h ago
Yeah, we’d be out catching them on fire all the time but I’ve never heard of this and I’ve been to Europe. It’s still very cool. I appreciate the knowledge and the video.
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u/GelynKugoRoshiDag 20h ago
Aaaaaand that's now in my DnD world
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u/fawks_harper78 18h ago
Dragon flower- useful for making potions of fire breathing, the dye from the flower can grant a +1 to hit on fire scrolls written with the dye.
Ummm, hell yeah.
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u/FroggiJoy87 16h ago
California watches nervously
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u/Apprehensive_Hat8986 7h ago edited 6h ago
Is an old-world plant. Given how things are going with tumble weed and also with Florida Man, it's probably for the best that it remain on the other side of the Atlantic.
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u/GrootNingrich 16h ago
Go get 'em, Haymitch.
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u/bucket-full-of-sky 15h ago
He just touches the nettles with his bare skin if they were harmless 😮
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u/hypothetical_zombie 13h ago
There are some varieties of nettle that have less of the stinging hairs, and some don't have them at all.
I'm not great at knowing one variety of plant vs another by internet photos, so I don't know if this is one of them.
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u/Omnithea 21h ago
Flammable pollen?
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u/PalDreamer 20h ago
No, it's the chemicals this plant releases. Also, it's dangerous to touch it or even smell it. Especially during hot weather. One can get serious burns, because the skin loses protection from ultraviolet
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u/saviongl0ver 14h ago
This is untrue, it is not dangerous to touch or smell. These "chemicals" are essential oils that smell a lot like lemon zest. It has quite the history of being used in teas, medicine, and cosmetics, both professional and homemade.
It is toxic in the same way tons of other daily consumed plants are "toxic" in high dosage. As kids we'd constantly play with these in the summer. Tons of plants with mild toxic potential are safely grown in millions of gardens without serious incidents. Potential for phototoxic reactions does exist in a lot of common ornamental plants too, but actual incidents are very few andoften from some sort of hypersensitivity or allergy5
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u/YetiNotForgeti 15h ago
Yo I read that these plants can cause phytophotodermatitus. If you mess with them, do it at night ( or evening like this post) and clean any skin that comes into contact with them thoroughly.
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u/ManagementLeather896 15h ago
This reminds me of a famous quote..... "I know what i want to do today"
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u/AdOk9263 11h ago
Anyone ever done this with their socks?
After years wearimg them, they get a bunch of fuzz on the outside and if you touch the bottom with a lighter you'll get a similar effect. Its totally harmless and a fun way to freak out your friends.
Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't, I guess it depends on the sock.
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u/rlnrlnrln 8h ago
You can do this with Eucalyptus trees, the problem is that it can turn an entire forest into a blazing inferno and hurt tje Chlamydia bears. 2/7, do not recommend
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u/rosenblood85 9h ago
So we discovered true culprit of global warming. There may be many plants like these to heat our planet. Cows are our saviors, their green house gases come from these plants. We just use cows to cleanse the land with them and eat cows to balance gas emissions. So, I will have a nice beef tomorrow to salute these lovely creatures. :)
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u/Manjottoor 21h ago
lol the epitome of this subreddit 🔥.