It shouldna' be here !! The day of the triffids..

Blame the Victorians again, they brought it to Great Britain in 1893. To be precise Sommier and Levier introduced Heracleum Mantegazzianum as an ornamental plant.

It escaped from domestication and is now colonising many areas of waste land and river banks. It can grow to 5m high and has a large umbel of white flowers from which it produces 30 to 50,000 viable seeds per year. If you cut it down, even with the right protective clothing, it will grow into a second and third year. It can form dense colonies which suppress the growth of native plants and grasses and leave the banks bare of vegetation in the winter. These are then liable to erosion or to recolonisation by seeds of Giant Hogweed washed downstream onto the bare ground.

Giant hogweed is a phototoxic plant. Its sap can cause phytophotodermatitis (severe skin inflammations) when the skin is exposed to sunlight or to ultraviolet rays. Initially, the skin colours red and starts itching. Then blisters form as it burns within 48 hours. They form black or purplish scars that can last several years. Hospitalisation may be necessary. Presence of minute amounts of sap in the eyes can lead to temporary or even permanent blindness. These reactions are caused by the presence of linear derivatives of furocoumarin in its leaves, roots, stems, flowers and seeds. These chemicals can get into the nucleus of the epithelial cells, forming a bond with the DNA, causing the cells to die. The brown colour is caused by the production of melanin by furocoumarins. I've seen the pictures, it is not pretty.

The legal position is more tenuous. In the UK, the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 makes it an offence to plant or cause giant hogweed to grow in the wild. This means that :-
1) You must not allow giant hogweed to spread onto adjacent land - the owner of that land could taker legal action against you.
2) You must not allow or encourage the spread of Giant Hogweed - this includes moving contaminated soil from one piece of land to another or incorrectly handling and transporting contaminated material and cuttings
BUT
3) You do not have to notify anyone and
4) You are not obliged to remove or treat it on your own land.

There is a problem with this plant on our river banks and a word to the council usually produces results. This one stands about six foot high and is living just about 5 metres from our fence. A phone call to the owner of the paddock which abuts our back garden is long overdue, I think.

As regular readers of my blips will must realise most of this write-up is not in my usual style and is culled from the net but it is certainly worth knowing about and warning children off as they may feel the the hollow giant stalks may excellent pea shooters !!


In the song "The Return of the Giant Hogweed" by Genesis, from their 1971 album Nursery Cryme, the history of the plant's introduction to Britain is humorously recounted, and the dangers of plant are portrayed facetiously in lines such as: "Turn and run! Nothing can stop them, around every river and canal their power is growing".