A poisonous plant that can make you feel as if you’ve been ‘electrocuted and set on fire’ for months with just one touch, has a new home in ‘the UK’s deadliest garden’.
The Australian native Dendrocnide moroides, more commonly referred to as the Gympie-gympie plant and known as “the most painful plant in the world,” is now among dozens of other similar plants in Alnwick Park in Northumberland. The garden, which says it contains nearly 100 “poisonous, intoxicating and narcotic plants,” revealed the new addition on Tuesday.
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Park said in her post advertisement. “…known as the ‘Australian stinging tree’, it is described as the most poisonous plant in the world thanks to its nettle-like exterior and tiny, brittle hairs that pack a punch if touched.”
According to the Queensland State Library, the hairs covering the plant “They act like needles under the skin. ”
They say: “If touched, it injects a toxin that causes excruciating pain that can last for days or even months.” “…this plant has the dubious honor of being the most painful plant in the world.”
Irina Vetter, 2020 / Photo Courtesy of The University of Queensland.
According to Garden UK, these hairs, known as trichomes, can remain in the skin for up to a year, re-provoking pain when the skin is touched, in contact with water, or a change in temperature.
It’s so painful that a woman in Australia, Naomi Lewis, said she didn’t even come close to the pain of childbirth. She had slipped into the plant after falling off her bike and falling onto a bridge in Queensland, and had to stay in hospital for a week to be treated for the pain. Even nine months after the accident, she said it still felt like someone “Biting rubber bandson her leg.
“It was horrible, absolutely horrible,” she told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation earlier this year. “I have four children—three by caesarean section and one naturally. Birth, none of them even come close to that.”
And all it takes is a moment for it all to happen.
“If touched even for a second, the tiny, hair-like needles will provide a burning sensation that will intensify for the next 20 to 30 minutes, lasting for weeks or even months,” Alnwick Garden said.
To make sure people don’t accidentally bump into it and get a first-hand experience of the pain for themselves, the poisonous plant is kept in a sealed glass cage with a clear sign that says “Don’t Touch.”
“We are taking every precaution to keep our gardeners safe,” the park said.
But the plant isn’t exactly terrifying. Earlier this year, researchers at the University of Queensland said they may have found a way to target toxins in the plant to Help relieve pain instead of causing it. By binding the venom to a specific protein called TMEM233, the researchers say the venom “has no effect.”
Researcher and Professor Irina Vetter said: “The persistent pain caused by the stinging tree toxins gives us hope that we can transform these compounds into new painkillers or anesthetics with long-lasting effects.” “We are excited to reveal a new pain pathway that has the potential to develop novel pain therapies without the side effects or dependency problems associated with conventional pain relief.”