Warning: DO Not Touch this Plant

[Bayard]

Nearly everyone is familiar with the old adage, leaves of 3- let it be; but here is another considerably More serious plant that you should be aware of, because it’s spreading rapidly through the USA and may just be in your backyard…

The plant is commonly known as Giant Hogweed, (Heracleum Mantegazzianum), but you might know it as cartwheel-flower, giant cow parsnip, cow parsley, hogsbane, wild parsnip or wild rhurbarb, but this plant is no friend. Be aware this plant is in the USA and IS spreading rapidly. This surprisingly pretty plant is part of the carrot family and can grow a whopping 14 feet tall, sporting large clusters of white flowers that appear much like an umbrella.



What is Giant Hogweed & Why is it Dangerous?
Giant Hogweed sap contains photosensitizing furanocoumarins that cause a skin reaction when it comes into contact with light. This light sensitive reaction takes place with 48 hours causing nasty painful blisters that can result in scars lasting months to years. Touching the sap can cause long-term sunlight sensitivity as well as blindness if it comes into contact with ones eyes. It starts out bright red, much like a slap and develops into blisters. In addition, the burns can reoccur for up to 10 years any time the affected area is exposed to sunlight.

What to do if you accidentally touch Giant Hogweed
Immediately wash the area with COLD water, toxic reaction occurs in as little as 15 minutes. If you’re out hiking, etc and you’ve flushed the area, apply sunscreen to it to prevent further reactions with the sun. Warm or hot water causes the pores in the skin to open, allowing more of the toxin into the skin, spreading it rapidly. It is imperative that you use COLD water. If at any point you think it may have gotten into your eye, flush the eye with cool water and put on sunglasses, seek emergency treatment.



https://www.budget101.com/gardening-landscaping/5228-warning-do-not-touch-this-plant/

[A HERETIC I AM]

1. I'm desperately allergic to Poison Ivy, but ever since I first heard about this plant....

I just don't go into the woods anymore, PERIOD.

I know there are several plants that have similar looking flowers and I'm not going to take any risks.

Mother nature is trying to kill us, of that I'm convinced!

[slightlv]

20. We've got a whole mess of what looks like this plant

across the street from us along the banks of a creek. I should say the flowers look exactly the same. I don't know about the green leaves yet. Need to take a better look. These leaves are very spiky and erose. Have no idea about the ones by the creek. I've heard about this plant before, but thank you for the reminder!

I'm one of those people who can't tell poison ivy from other types of ivy. I just assume anything with erose leaves of 3 is a danger and either kill it or stay far from it. My mother was so allergic to poison ivy that it would go internal on her... her throat would swell up and she'd have to be hospitalized at times. I remember what she looked like at my graduation.

And if Mother Nature is trying to kill us, I think we'd call it revenge for what we're doing to her.

[ZonkerHarris]

36. justifiable homicide

[pansypoo53219]

37. i don't know. once my grandpa said i was in a poison ivy patch + nothing.

never saw this up north.

[DBoon]

2. Genesis - Return of the giant hogweed

[Verse 1]
Turn and run
Nothing can stop them
Around every river and canal
Their power is growing
Stamp them out
We must destroy them
They infiltrate each city
With their thick dark warning odour

[Chorus]
They are invincible
They seem immune
To all our herbicidal battering

[Bridge]
Long ago in the Russian hills
A Victorian explorer found
The regal Hogweed by a marsh
He captured it and brought it home
Botanical creature stirs, seeking revenge
Royal beast did not forget
He came home to London
And made a present of the Hogweed
To the Royal Gardens at Kew

[Verse 2]
Waste no time
They are approaching
Hurry now, we must protect ourselves
And find some shelter
Strike by night
They are defenceless
They all need the sun
To photosensitize their venom

[Chorus]
Still they're invincible
Still they're immune
To all our herbicidal battering

[Bridge]
Fashionable country gentlemen
Had some cultivated wild gardens
In which they innocently planted
The Giant Hogweed throughout the land
Botanical creature stirs, seeking revenge
Royal beast did not forget
Soon they escaped, spreading their seed
Preparing for an onslaught
Threatening the human race

[Outro]
Mighty Hogweed is avenged
Human bodies soon will know our anger
Kill them with your Hogweed hairs
Heracleum mantegazziani
(Giant Hogweed lives)

[ms liberty]

8. I really did not expect anyone to beat me at posting Return of the Giant Hogweed

It's a favorite of mine

[DBoon]

12. When I first heard the song I thought it was a SciFi B-movie spoof

like a takeoff on Day of the Triffids

Then I found out Giant Hogweed is a real plant

[ms liberty]

35. Peter read an article about it in a newspaper at the time they were writing Nursery Cryme

Warning people about it and telling its history. He wrote the lyrics straight from the article.

[2naSalit]

3. I still have scars from...

A couple mild encounters back in the early 80 when I lived in Wisconsin. Nasty stuff.

Looks a lot like other marsh and riparian area plants like Hemlock and Angelica. I have also seen a variety of it with yellow flowers. The stuff in Wisconsin had yellow flowers.

[Maru Kitteh]

29. Do we have to worry about it growing here?

I was hoping this was a southern thing.

[MagickMuffin]

4. We have hemlock which is similar

I went into a pulling frenzy one day and didn’t have adequate clothing on, I developed a rash. After that long sleeve shirts.


Another thing about hemlock is the flower heads once dried turn into tiny stickers and will attack to everything.


Evil Plants

[Goonch]

5. 👇👇👇👁️👁️

[TommyT139]

6. Thanks

Very helpful to see it in context, from a distance.

[Bayard]

32. Holy crap!

[lindysalsagal]

7. Horrible!

[Hermit-The-Prog]

9. Article linked in OP provides a link to a Maine "plant identification guide"...

https://www.maine.gov/dacf/php/gotpests/weeds/documents/giant-hogweed-id-card.pdf

There is another plant around my place that is known locally as hogweed; it's not the same plant as described in the OP and the identification guide. That may cause confusion if and when the giant hogweed spreads to my state (KY).

[Ohioboy]

15. The warning should be at the top of the page, not at the bottom!

They need to redo the Maine plant identification guide and make the warning bigger!

[Hermit-The-Prog]

21. I agree completely! That thing is bad.

[twodogsbarking]

10. I am convinced. A bit nervous too.

[StarryNite]

11. OMG!

That looks absolutely horrible!

[paleotn]

13. Giant hogweed! Yeehaw!

The plant literally from pits of hell! Kill it! Just kill it! Very, very carefully.

I grew up in the south and have seen poison ivy vines as big as your arm and stretching 40 feet up a tree. I've seen poison ivy that should be classified as a bush not an ivy. I've seen poison ivy holding up the corner of an old barn. Poison ivy thought it was the worst....but no....Giant Hogweed holds that undisputed crown! Stay the hell away from it. If you need to eradicate it, do so with extreme caution!!!

[erronis]

17. Try some poison oak or poison sumac. Both, at least to me, are worse.

But this looks like the mother of all disasters.

[DBoon]

14. In SoCal, we have Poodle Dog Bush

Similar effects, has put people in the hospital

This plant causes severe irritation similar to or worse than poison oak. Blisters may appear on your skin lasting 2 weeks or more. The plant is covered in sticky hairs, which can dislodge easily and can be passed onto hikers who touch it or brush up against it. The swelling, rash, and itching appear 12 hours to 2 days after contact.

https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/angeles/recreation/?cid=stelprdb5318308

[soandso]

25. And look how pretty that is!

Just wanting to lure you in to dislodge it's sticky hairs on you!

[LeftInTX]

34. It doesn't look like it's too weedy.

Giant Hogweed is a member of the carrot family and those things spring up real easy.

[diva77]

38. Poodle Dog is one of the first plants to establish itself in wildfire-scorched areas.

It's depressing hiking where everything has been destroyed and all you see is this plant that you have to stay away from.

[Warpy]

16. Eradication takes a multi year effort

of destroying the plant and digging up the ground to kill the roots and then return year after year to catch any seeds that have germinated.

This is one evil plant, if only for its attractiveness to children who find the umbrella shape irresistible.

This thing is so hard to eradicate that it needs a nationally funded plan to do it. It has to have a weakness. We need to find it and exploit it or large parts of this country sill become largely uninhabitable.

That's how bad this thing is.

Mother Earth seems to be fighting back.

[erronis]

18. Yup. The mother will get us in the end. Round-trip for our chemicals....

[hatrack]

39. How would you even begin? Fire up the propane torch for starters?

Yeesh. I've never encountered it, thankfully, but if it's 15' tall, at least it would be hard to miss.

[Warpy]

40. Apparently a combination of cutting and checmicals works about the best

the head is cut off before it flowers and can spread seeds and a herbicide (nasty old glyphosate is recommended) is injected into the stalk. That will kill the damned thing and then all you need to do is destroy any seeds that germinate over the next few years.

Fucking Victorians imported it as an ornamental plant, not realizing how dangerous the damned thing is because of course they wouldn't have asked the local people in the Caucasus region.

I'd want to nuke it from orbit, but apparently burning can spread the toxin in the smoke. Once the plant is dead, it has to be chopped up, into pieces and bagged as dangerous waste.

Honestly? If I found it in my garden (not likely, I live in the high desert), I'd probably call in the experts. They have enough protective equipment and will use glyphosate safely.

[surfered]

19. Yikes!

[rubbersole]

22. The flowers look like Queen Anne's Lace.

Everywhere in Florida. Just not as large.

[Ohioboy]

26. It does look like Queen Anne's Lace only bigger

We have Queen Anne's Lace everywhere, and it also is in the carrot family.

[Rebl2]

33. That's

what I thought too. A giant Queen Ann’s Lace. Sounds like a pretty nasty plant.

[chouchou]

23. Damn. I'm not a Republican lover or even liker, but I'd warn anybody from that nightmare.

Horrible

[Maru Kitteh]

31. Well, maybe just one . . .

And personally, I would tell that one if he rubs it on his face it will make all his natural hair grow back in three weeks & add 2 inches to his height.

That oughta work.

[soandso]

24. It looks like

Queen Anne's Lace but bigger. And, the hogweed, hemlock, parsnip and some others that look similar are all toxic!

https://www.fws.gov/story/dont-touch-these-plants

I never knew this and they all look just like the type of plant I'd stick my nose into to smell the flowers.

[Wicked Blue]

27. One good thing: sheep, goats, cattle and hogs eat it.

"Farmers near Parksville, British Columbia, noted reduced giant hogweed abundance in pastures used by cattle, goats, and/or hogs [42]. Sheep essentially eliminated giant hogweed from a meadow in northeastern Zealand, Denmark. During the grazing study, there were 5 sheep/ha from 1987 to 1989 and 10 sheep/ha from 1990 to 1993. Cover of giant hogweed was as high as 19% in May of 1989 but was 0% in May of 1993."

The report notes that deer may eat it too.

https://www.fs.usda.gov/database/feis/plants/forb/herman/all.html

This link is an excellent source of all kinds of information about Giant Hogweed.

[H2O Man]

28. Recommended.

A couple years ago, my son ran into some while mowing. He still has scars from it.

[AllyCat]

30. I HATE that stuff. It's everywhere. I've been a victim before.

Dreadful stuff. Poison ivy has nothing on wild parsnip.