Brits lose it over 'most dangerous' Aussie import: 'Not a good idea'
Some UK residents said it was just another reason not to visit Down Under.
Australia's most-feared plant is causing a stir once again as curious Brits were given the opportunity to catch a glimpse of what is often branded the "suicide plant".
Kept behind a locked glass screen in the aptly named Poison Garden, The Alnwick Garden in England's northeast this week became one of the few daring owners of the Dendrocnide moroides, also known as Gympie-Gympie.
"There's little hairs on it, so if you brush past it and there's any skin contact, the hairs from the plant grow under the skin, break off and inject venom - which has been described as being electrocuted and set on fire at the same time," the garden's tour guide John Knox warned.
One touch of the plant, believed to be the world's most dangerous, can lead to long-term pain that lasts weeks and even months. A Queensland mum who fell into one of the plants last year revealed the pain was worse than childbirth. She spent seven days in hospital and was forced to take painkillers for six months.
While many intrigued users expressed on social media their eagerness to visit the garden, others, quite wisely, were less enthusiastic.
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"Keep adding more reasons as to why I should never visit Australia," one person wrote on Facebook.
"Probably not a good idea to bring it to the UK," another said.
The plant regularly goes viral online, with a 2021 picture of a Gympie-Gympie behind a wire fence in a separate English garden last year prompting a predictable response after an accompanying sign read, "Danger - 'The World's Most Dangerous Plant'."
"Australia has the most dangerous everything. Everything tries to kill you," one person said.
Long history of causing pain in Australia's east
The plant’s reach extends from northern NSW, into the Gympie region in southern Queensland, all the way up to Cape York.
It is most common in rainforest areas that have been recently disturbed. National park authorities do try and clear it from walking paths, but tourists still should be on the lookout for it.
Its nickname 'suicide plant' likely derives from historic accounts of struggling victims of the plant, including an officer in the 1940s who is alleged to have shot himself unable to take the pain.
In an article for The Conversation, plant expert Dr Marina Hurley compared it to “being stung by 30 wasps at once” or “like being burnt with hot acid and electrocuted at the same time". They also have the ability to cause sneezing, nose bleeds and respiratory damage. That’s just from standing near them for 20 minutes.
Dr Hurley found that while the plants are harmful to humans, they provide nourishment for a number of insects and the red-legged pademelon – a small macropod.
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