The Poison Garden in Alnwick unveils the Gympie Gympie, known as the most venomous plant in the world

Gardeners Amy Thorp and Joe Savage carefully put the Gympie Gympie plant in place at the Poison Garden. Picture: Phil Wilkinson/Alnwick Garden

The stinger of a new addition to the attraction at The Alnwick Garden is a home grown native Australian plant, Gympie Gympie.

Also known as the ‘Australian stinging tree’, the nettle-like shrub is known as the world’s most venomous plant and is said to be capable of delivering a sting similar to being burnt with hot acid and electrocuted at the same time.

The plant is the latest to grow in the small but deadly Poison Garden at The Alnwick Garden which hosts around 100 toxic, intoxicating and narcotic plants including Laburnum, Atropa, Belladonna, Opium Poppy and Marijuana.

Amy Thorp and Joe Savage put the Gympie Gympie plant in the Poison Garden. Picture: Phil Wilkinson/Alnwick Garden

Poison Garden head guide John Knox said: “It is such a rare and exciting plant to now be able to display and educate visitors around.

"Gympie Gympie is a plant from the nettle family Urticaceae which is usually only native to rainforest areas of Australasia - and now at The Alnwick Garden!”

Gympie Gympie was discovered in its native Australia when a road surveyor’s horse was stung, went mad and ‘died within two hours’ in 1866.

Its name comes from the language of the Indigenous Gubbi Gubbi people of south-eastern Queensland.

The Gympie Gympie plant in the Poison Garden. Picture: Phil Wilkinson/Alnwick Garden

The plant usually flowers and produces its fruits when it is less than 3m tall, and it could reach up to 10m in height.

The stem, branches, petioles, leaves, and fruits are all covered in the stinging hairs and not to be touched, warns John.

“The tiny brittle hairs (known as trichomes) are loaded with toxins over the entire plant and if touched, stay in the skin for up to a year, and release the toxin cocktail into the body during triggering events such as touching the affected area, contact with water, or temperature changes,” he added.

“Even 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, continuing for weeks or even months.

"In some cases, it’s been said that the pain is so intense it can lead to suicide!”

The boundaries of the Poison Garden are kept behind black iron gates, only open on guided tours.