A POISONOUS plant, known as the Devil's Apple, has been found at an allotment in York.

Keen gardener Tom Robinson discovered the triffid-like weed shooting up in his plot in Fulford Cross and spent hours chopping it down.

Now he is warning other gardeners to look out for the overpowering plant, which is thought to have started appearing after the hot summer this year.

The plant contains Tropane alkaloids, which can cause serious symptoms if eaten, but can also be intoxicating if the scent is breathed in.

Mr Robinson, 70, of Broadway, Fulford, said: "When you broke the stem of the plant it produced an unpleasant smell.

"I found lots of seeds growing on it as well and knew that I had to get rid of the plant, before other ones started springing up all over my allotment."

Once he realised how aggressive the plant was, he dug it up and put it on a bonfire to make sure all the debris was destroyed.

He said: "I first noticed it in August. It just started growing. I didn't know what it was, so I left it for a bit but then it started taking over, so I knew it had to be cut down. I would warn anyone who spots these things to cut them out before they start strangling other plants in your garden."

Experts at Kew Gardens have received dozens of requests for information about the invader, properly known as datura stramonium.

Jill Turner, of Kew's Centre For Economic Botany said: "It is native to north America so it doesn't need a particularly hot climate, but it probably appreciates the warmer and drier summers we have been having.

"All parts of the plant contain Tropane alkaloids, the flowers and seeds particularly.

"Ingestion of these can cause serious symptoms."

Gardeners who find the plant, which is also known as Thornapple, Devil's Trumpet and Stinkweed, are advised to dig it out and burn it as seeds are difficult to destroy and can lie dormant for 40 years.

Mr Robinson is writing to the allotments office at City of York Council warning of the plant's existence and is urging other plot-holders to look out for it.

The Devil's Apple is a highly-poisonous, narcotic plant that has an intoxicating effect if breathed in or eaten.

The leaves contain a very powerful mind-altering drug and parts of the chemicals within them have been used to calm schizoid patients.