Discover Top Posts Tagged with #common hogweed

Zaaddozen van gewone berenklauw (Heracleum sphondylium). 10-08-2023. (actm.) 02

“Seed pods of Heracleum sphondylium. Focus stack of 89 photos.” - via Wikimedia Commons

Common hogweed, November 29th 2020

I walked past two types of hogweed yesterday within 20 metres of one another so I thought I'd do a photo comparison.....not least because it's that time of year when the countryside is covered in hogweed of one kind or another and the tabloids like to whip up mass panic about it.

Common hogweed is our native hogweed and it is everywhere. It can grow to around 2m tall but its flower heads are around 20cm in diameter. GIANT hogweed is exactly that. Giant. It can grow to be 4m tall with flower heads that are up to 80cm in diameter. The stem of the common hogweed is green, hairy and with ridges running along its length, whereas giant hogweed has a thick, much smoother stem with distinctive purple blotches.

Giant Hogweed was introduced to the UK from faaaaaar away in the Caucasususus. It is famously phototoxic, bringing skin out in a severe rash after even the lightest of contact. AVOID AVOID AVOID!! Even common hogweed can produce an allergic reaction in some people and should therefore be handled with care, but the reaction is nowhere near as severe as in the GIANT of the species.

#nature #wildlife #non native #invasive #Fife #St Monans #giant hogweed #common hogweed