Giant Hogweed in local press

[Arthur Ritus 30]

Peter Gabriel warned about this, back in 1972 ... the dreaded Heracleum mantegazzianum!

 

CAUTION ... contains footage of Phil Collins, which in itself may be upsetting to some!

 

I thought it was all a bit of media exaggeration until i saw that video, some serious action must be taken to prevent the public being exposed to this kind of terror.

Martial law, air strikes, napalm, nukes anything to stop the spread of that video.

[tzijlstra 11]

A little girl recently suffered very badly from having touched this plant. Was in the papers and on T.V. so it is a good idea to inform people. Must say though, having reached my seventies, I didn't know about them until this week.

 

Believe it or not, I once had to go to the GP because I was close to a shock after retrieving the football from a patch of nettles (in shorts and shoes, nothing else) being the clumsy sod I am, I of course fell over whilst balancing on one leg to try and get the ball without touching the nettles.

 

Long story short: There are things in nature that can hurt. I have also been stung by the hogweed (bereklauw or bearclaw as we call it) and it hardly caused a rash. The girl was unlucky to find a very "charged" plant I fear.

 

But still: Informing people is good! So here we go:

 

This is what it looks like.

 

What the difference is with common hogweed and some general tips.

 

Key-tip: They grow in areas where stinging nettles are common as well, you would make sure you are covered top to toe when meeting nettles, the same applies for these plants.

[PRESLEY 1,224]

I saw what this plant did to people up in Scotland 30 year ago when I was fishing on the Tweed, if seen it must be reported.

[Chez2 10]

there are groups of children up and down that road with their teachers weekly. Its not worth the risk.

 

Would you want your children picking leaves off it??

 

There are a lot of common plants that are harmful to humans and animals. I remember being fascinated by the milky sap from Euphorbias. It can cause skin blister and damage your eyes if it gets into them.

 

This list of harmful plants might be worth browsing through:

 

https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=524

[Cazzerb65 10]

Council have rung me this morning and are going to deal with it :-)