 |
Heracleum mantegazzianum |
 |
| Common name |
giant hogweed |
| Family |
apiaceae |
| Life cycle |
monocarpic perennial |
| Flowers |
white (June) |
| Size |
10' or larger |
| Light |
sun-part shade |
We grow this on the berm way in the back of our yard, since it has an unpleasant reputation for toxicity and skin irritation. In fact, after reading up on it on the internet, we probably won't reintroduce this into our garden after this season - we expect it to die after flowering, since it is supposed to be monocarpic. This season will be its first to bloom, two years after sowing. The flower buds look like something out of Invasion of the body snatchers, and the leaves are just huge. Quite a bold plant - too bad it has such a bad attitude.
|
|
In our garden, this plant grows in the following area: berm About my plant portraits
Visitors to this page have left the following comments| louise | Sep 07, 2004 | hello, I love this plant, it's so beautiful, I think if you just don't touch it with your bare hands nothing is wrong.....it keeps out unwanted people.
maybe you can send me a small one?????? or some seeds, they are difficult to get in Holland
Hi Louise, thanks for your comments. I agree that this is fine for many gardens - just not for one in which small children roam around. If you'd like to trade for seed, please mail me. |
| beatrice del Perugia | Jul 05, 2005 | Can you please tell me where I can get this plant. I live in an isolated place where it will not hurt anyone. It is so beautiful and I remembert it from my garden in France when I was a child. cranebaker@optonline.net |
| Samuel Cody | Jul 21, 2005 | This plant is very dangerous. Sap from this weed will cause severe burns, blisters and scarring if skin is exposed to sunlight. Temporary or permanent blindness will result if sap gets into the eyes. My advice is not to give seeds or plants to anyone. See following website for more information: http://www.conservationallianceny.org/education/hogweed.php apollo230@excite.com |
| jacob haner | Jul 25, 2005 | I'll burn it for free and love it the whole time call! |
| Mattheus the Man | Aug 02, 2005 | Don't purchase, plant and grow the giant hogweed! Sap of the hogwood burns and blisters your skin, if skin is exposed to sunlight. A legend tells, that even one small child is dead somewhere in Europe, because he/she had got severe, serious burning injuries. In my opinion the giant hogwood is very ugly plant, just like a fictional UFO plant named "Triffide". Do you know "The Return Of The Giant Hogweed", a song of Genesis in their "Nursery Cryme" LP?
Mattheus the Man from somewhere Europe. |
| Matthew the Man | Aug 02, 2005 | PS. The giant hogwood spreads the seeds really badly. Crowds of seedlings grow elsewhere.... Let's destroy them all with a flamethrower and a root poisoner loaded with "Round-Up" poison. |
| beatrice del Perugia | Sep 09, 2005 | The plant I remember in France was not toxic as I hear you describe. It was invasive because my father and our neighbor used to cut it by hand and no one ever said anything ab out toxicity. The plant I remember was an umbellifer called LA GRANDE BERCE DU CAUCASE. Does any one know what it was? |
| Karl | Sep 17, 2005 | Beatrice the plant you describe is Giant Hogweed maybe your father had its less dangerous cousin in his garden, called Cow Parsnip, as they look very much alike and although Cow Parsnip is unpleasant it is not anywhere near as dangerous as Giant Hogweed, and as an aside it might interest you all to know that Giant Hogweed is so dangerous that it is illegal to grow it in some parts of the world, and others have active programmes to abolish it. |
| Alfredo | Apr 21, 2006 | Hi!
I am searching some info about this plant. I has been introduced also in south-western Patagonia (Argentina) and I want to write an article about it.
I was wondering, do you know were does the "mantegazzianum" name cames from?
Anyway, nice page!! |
| Steven | May 18, 2006 | Hi Rob. We have a large infestation of this in our back yard in rural NY. It definitely is Hog Weed by the pics I've seen on the internet. My family seems to have good resistance to its affects though. My girls, 11 and 13, have been known to chop it up just to see what it looks like inside. And I know I've handled it without protection many times. Despite the fact that it doesn't seem to bother us physically, I will remove it due to its intruding into our yard. My 13 year old daughter will probably miss it though. |
I welcome comments about my web pages; feel free to use the form below to
leave feedback about this particular page. For the benefit of other visitors
to these pages, I will list any relevant comments you leave, and if
appropriate, I will update my page to correct mis-information. Faced with an
ever-increasing onslaught of spam, I'm forced to discard any comments including
html markups. Please submit your comment as plain text. If you have a
comment about the website as a whole, please leave it in my
guestbook. If you
have a question that needs a personal response, please
e-mail me.
Last modified:
June 16, 2004
Contact me
|
