Plant that makes you feel "electrocuted and set on fire at the same time" introduced to U.K. "Poison Garden"
A venomous plant that can make you feel as though you've been "electrocuted and set on fire at the same time" for months with just a single touch is now on display in "the U.K.'s deadliest garden."
The Dendrocnide moroides, more commonly referred to as the gympie-gympie plant, is native to rainforests in Australia and some Asian nations. It is known as the "world's most painful plant," and is now among dozens of venomous plants on display at the Alnwick Garden in Northumberland, England.
It was unveiled Tuesday as the latest addition to the "Poison Garden" section, which Alnwick Garden says has roughly 100 "toxic, intoxicating and narcotic plants."
"Imagine being set on fire and electrocuted at the same time. Got that image in your head? Well that is what an interaction is like with the native Australian plant Gympie Gympie," the garden said in its announcement. "Known as the 'Australian Stinging Tree,' it is described as being the world's most venomous plant with its nettle-like exterior and tiny brittle hairs packing a punch if touched."
According to the State Library of Queensland, the hairs that cover the plant "act like hypodermic needles," which, if touched, "inject a venom which causes excruciating pain that can last for days, even months."
"This plant has the dubious honor of being arguably the most painful plant in the world," the library says.
According to Alnwick Garden, those hairs, known as trichomes, can remain in someone's skin for up to a year, re-triggering pain whenever the skin is touched, comes into contact with water or experiences a change in temperature.
It's so painful that one woman in Australia, Naomi Lewis, said even child birth didn't "come close."
She slid into one of the plants after falling off her bike and down a hill in Queensland. She was hospitalized for a week to be treated for the pain. Nine months after the incident, she said it still felt like someone was "snapping rubber bands" on her leg.
"It was horrible, absolutely horrible," she told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation earlier this year. "I've had four kids — three caesareans and one natural childbirth — none of them even come close."
And all it takes is a moment for a gympie-gympie to strike.
"If touched for even a second, the tiny hair-like needles will deliver a burning sensation that will intensify for the next 20 to 30 minutes," Alnwick Garden said, "continuing for weeks or even months."
To make sure people don't accidentally bump into it and get a firsthand experience of the pain for themselves, the venomous plant is kept inside a locked glass box with a sign that warns visitors: "Do not touch."
"We are taking all precautions necessary to keep our gardeners safe," the attraction said.
But the plant may end up being less sinister than it seems. Earlier this year, researchers at the University of Queensland said they might have discovered a way to use the toxins in the plant to help relieve pain, rather than to cause it. By unbinding the toxin from a specific protein called TMEM233, researchers say the toxin has "no effect."
"The persistent pain the stinging tree toxins cause gives us hope that we can convert these compounds into new painkillers or anaesthetics which have long-lasting effects," researcher Irina Vetter said. "We are excited to uncover a new pain pathway that has the potential for us to develop new pain treatments without the side effects or dependency issues associated with conventional pain relief."