Saying the United Kingdom's
Poison Garden is a unique and intriguing attraction might be underselling it a bit. The garden is exactly what the name states: a place that contains a diverse collection of poisonous plants, and as
CBS News reports, it has just acquired a nasty new one. The
Dendrocnide moroides, or Australian gympie-gympie, is covered in needlelike stinging hairs that make those unlucky enough to touch them feel as if they were, in the words of a
press release from the garden, "set on fire and electrocuted at the same time."
To safeguard visitors to the Alnwick Garden—which is also home to deadly delights like hemlock, nightshade, and nux vomica—the gympie-gympie is housed in a locked glass box with a sign emphasizing it's not to be touched. Those unlucky enough to have done so elsewhere don't easily forget the pain, which can last for weeks or months. One victim told
ABC Australia that her experience was "horrible, absolutely horrible," causing pain worse than childbirth; it was seven months before she could wean herself off pain meds.
In 2009, entomologist and ecologist Marina Hurley told
Australian Geographic about her own gympie-gympie encounters during her research on stinging trees; they were as painful as "being burnt with hot acid and electrocuted" and left her with an allergic reaction resulting in "extreme itching and huge hives." Still, even an unnerving plant like gympie-gympie could have positive uses. As CBS notes, a
University of Queensland study published in April found that, in the words of co-author Irina Vetter, "persistent pain" from "stinging tree toxins ... gives us hope that we can convert these compounds into new painkillers or anesthetics which have long-lasting effects."
(More
poison stories.)
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