Beware the Giant Hogweed

This video showed up in my gardening group on Facebook. I'm not sure if it goes in this forum, but I didn't find a better choice for it. Apparently giant hogweed is as nasty as this news report says. According to Wikipedia, it is "widespread throughout the British Isles, especially along riverbanks...[and] has also spread in the northeastern and northwestern United States and central and eastern Canada. It is equally a pernicious invasive species in Germany, France and Belgium, overtaking the local species."

Wikipedia adds, "The USDA Forest Service states pigs and cattle can eat it without apparent harm."

Michiganders Warned Of Dangerous Hogweed

Detailed pictures at this site. And here's a cheery pdf file from Canada about destroying the thing--and a picture of what it can do to bare skin! Like a triffid!

ClareBroommaker's picture

Those photos on Wikipedia are just as I have seen it--always near water, sometimes simply roadside ditches.