A genus of tropical plants with stinging hairs that deliver painful irritants when touched, resembling jellyfish stings on land.
From Greek knide (sting) + skolos (thorn, sting). The genus name describes plants whose hairs function like tiny stinging cells, delivering chemical irritants.
Cnidoscolus plants have hairs that act like cnidocytes—they're land plants that evolved jellyfish-like stinging weapons!
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