I’ll be honest - never heard of the stuff - but think I have seen it a few times over the years
I just thought it was cow parsley , that had grown big
grows near rivers roads railway lines etc
apparently it makes the victims skin , very light sensitive & can cause blindness if the sap gets in the eyes
something to keep the kids away from
looks quite pretty
I work on the railway and have seen this before. Bloody nasty stuff. That and Japanese knotweed is very common on the rails.
I thought they were exaggerating about it , until I see the blisters :ohno:
Is was amazed, I am sure it’s the stuff we used to mess about with as kids. It has hollow stems and we used them as blowpipes. It’s really affected those poor kids though.
Is was amazed, I am sure it’s the stuff we used to mess about with as kids. It has hollow stems and we used them as blowpipes. It’s really affected those poor kids though.
I think that is cow parsley ,
hog weed is it’s big brother - grows to 15 ft high O_O
used to make blow pipes as well , with the cow parsley
Read about this the other day and saw the pictures of the lady’s leg which was very scary!! Even more scary because usually where I walk my dog like country lanes, parks and so on, there is many weeds and so on, what to be fair all look identical to this hogweed. Obviously this is even more concerning because the amount of times I have seen children playing footie and its been lobbed into a mass of weeds and they just run into them to get the ball…the thought makes me quiver!
Tamworthbay wrote:
Is was amazed, I am sure it’s the stuff we used to mess about with as kids. It has hollow stems and we used them as blowpipes. It’s really affected those poor kids though.
I think that is cow parsley ,
hog weed is it’s big brother - grows to 15 ft high O_O
used to make blow pipes as well , with the cow parsley
that makes sense, the pics looked exactly like what we used to play with.
There was an article about it in BBC news following a 15year old who got a nasty sore rash after coming into contact with it whilst playing footy in his local park.
Apparently if you do come into contact with it then you should cover that area of your body from the sun and wash it with warm soapy water. It’s the sun light reacting with the chemicals from the plant that causes the burns on the skin
It really is very nasty stuff. If you even just lightly brush your skin it’ll fire loads of nasty compounds into you. You can’t really reach for anything as an antidote, all you can do is first of all get out of the light then wash it with lots of soap and water, then hope for the best.
I have always thought that rather than keeping the kids away from it (and all the other) poisonous plants, you should take the kids to it so they know what it is; knowledge is crucial. There is a native Common Hogweed as well which, while not as bad as Giant Hogweed, can still be nasty. http://speciesofuk.blogspot.com/2013/07/week-22-hogweed-heracleum-sphondylium.html
