A schoolboy was rushed to hospital by his frightened mum after a brush with ' Britain's most dangerous plant ' left him covered in painful blisters.
George, eight, complained that he was itchy several hours after playing in the bushes at Parc Bryn Bach in Tredegar, Wales.
It was then that mum Nicola discovered multiple burns under his clothes and rushed him to get emergency medical aid.
The lad soon learned that he'd been exposed to the dreaded giant hogweed., whose sap stops the skin protecting itself against sunlight.
Urgent warnings were issued across the country this summer after a four-year-old girl in Bolton suffered severe burns from touching a dangerous the wildflower plant.
Nicola said: "He was playing in the bushes by the actual playground part of the park and he came into contact with it there.
"He was in there for a couple of minutes, if that. It could have just been a case of he brushed past it.
"He didn't know until later on in the evening after he'd had his shower; he put his onesie on and kept complaining that he was really itchy.
"Then he's obviously took his onesie off and he was just covered in burns. It looked like blisters."
The fact that the hogweed causes no immediate pain means many who touch it will continue to bask in the sunshine heedless of any problem.
It also takes only a moment of exposure to wreak havoc on its victims.
To make matters worse, George's itching might have transferred the hogweed's sap to other parts of his body.
Nicola said: "There was a lot more [blisters] than that after - they just kept appearing.
"Because obviously one of the things is, if you touch one of the spots and then touch somewhere else on your body, it spreads.
"If George had touched his eyes, it would have been a whole different story."
Emergency medics at the Prince Charles Hospital in Merthyr Tydfil prescribed a course of antihistamines after they discovered the cause of George's burns.
"It was only when the doctors were showing George pictures asking if he had seen any of these plants that George pointed straight down to the giant hogweed," said Nicola.
"George wasn't the first case.
"The week before there was another young child that he goes to school with who went in with the same thing."
George's burns cleared up after a few days of antihistamines, but the blisters could leave scars.
Some of those scorched by the plant also end up facing years of sensitivity to sunlight.
Now Nicola is warning other parents to keep their kids out of untended areas when out and about.
She said: "George is more vigilant now. I have a back garden and anything that looks strange he says 'that's not it, is it mum?'
"Don't let the children into overgrown areas, because you don't know what's in there.
"At the smallest of signs you need to go straight to the hospital."
Nicola also credited the park's management with taking quick action.
"They were absolutely amazing and the manager has called back several times to see that George is okay, which is lovely," she said.
The giant hogweed is native to the Caucasus, but was introduced to Britain as an ornamental plant in 1817, and its spread has now got out of control.
Mike Duddy, of the Mersey Basin Rivers Trust, said in 2015 that the giant hogweed was "without a shadow of a doubt, the most dangerous plant in Britain".
If exposed to the plant, you should thoroughly wash the area that made contact and keep it out of sunlight for a few days, the Woodland Trust advises.
Parc Bryn Bach's management was contacted for comment.
