The Tale of the Giant Hogweed
Thursday, June 23, 2011 at 10:53 PM 
So a local friend rang me, excited about an exotic plant he’d spotted by the roadside. ‘Like a cabbage on a stick’, he said. Wanted me to identify it.
I went to see the plant and, sure enough, the about-to-unfurl leaves looked like lumpy cabbages. On sticks. But exactly how to go about identifying it had me slightly baffled. There were no flowers as yet. So what does one google? Tall plant with big green leaves? That should narrow it down to several thousand species…
Busy with other things, I put the identity search on hold. But then came a second phone call. This one extremely irate. The language, a little…er…colourful. The plant had gone! Dug up. Stolen! The grass in front of it trampled, and a hole where the prize specimen had been.
Convinced some gardener had filched it for his/her garden, my friend castigated the entire green-fingered race for their selfishness. In most disparaging terms.
But then a neighbour, who’d also noticed the alien foliage, shed light on the drama. The plant was, he said, a Giant Hogweed. Which is not, it turns out, a very friendly plant at all. In fact, touch it and you might well end up in hospital. The sap reacts with sunlight to produce blisters on the skin….which leave horrible marks that last for years. In fact, so unwelcome is Giant Hogweed that it’s actually illegal to introduce it into the wild.
It seems likely, then, that the now menacing intruder was dug up by some concerned citizen who didn’t want anyone hurt…or didn’t want the plant to reproduce (it spreads like proverbial wildfire).
Then again, it may now have pride of place in some dastardly gardener’s garden after all….
Reader Comments (7)
strangely beautiful though unpleasant plant... so glad you got a picture of it
A very quick snap because it was beginning to rain. Just as well. If I wasn't getting wet, I might have got more interested and touched it!
However dangerous, you captured a fantastic shot. It looks so cool.
Very unusual but I would not want it anywhere near my garden. Looks as though it belongs in the land of the giants
Beautifully detailed shot of this fantastic plant but so glad you didn't touch it.
Yes, they are very dangerous and extremely painful if you get too near. They can grow in excess of 15 feet tall. Men come with full body hazmat suits to inject the hollow stems with herbicide and then remove them when they are dead.
Our news showed skin that had come into contact and it looked like a brutal acid burn. If you should get exposed, cover the area immediately with whatever you have on (sunlight activates the poison) and wash with soap and water throughly. Seek medical attention. Keep whatever area got exposed out of the sun for the next YEAR.
Scary stuff-be careful!!
Goodness! Thanks for that information, Lelainia. Super-relieved now that I didn't touch it!