NY DEC Warns That Giant Hogweed Plant Could Cause Blisters, Blindness

http://newyork.cbslocal.com ^ | July 5, 2011

[Scythian]

ALBANY, N.Y. (CBSNewYork/AP)

[EQAndyBuzz]

Turn and run!
Nothing can stop them,
Around every river and canal their power is growing.
Stamp them out!
We must destroy them,
They infiltrate each city with their thick dark warning odour.

They are invincible,
They seem immune to all our herbicidal battering.

Long ago in the russian hills,
A victorian explorer found the regal hogweed by a marsh,
He captured it and brought it home.
Botanical creature stirs, seeking revenge.
Royal beast did not forget.
He came home to london,
And made a present of the hogweed to the royal gardens at kew.

Waste no time!
They are approaching.
Hurry now, we must protect ourselves and find some shelter
Strike by night!
They are defenceless.
They all need the sun to photosensitize their venom.

Still they’re invincible,
Still they’re immune to all our herbicidal battering.

Fashionable country gentlemen had some cultivated wild gardens,
In which they innocently planted the giant hogweed throughout the land.
Botanical creature stirs, seeking revenge.
Royal beast did not forget.
Soon they escaped, spreading their seed,
Preparing for an onslaught, threatening the human race.

The dance of the giant hogweed

Mighty hogweed is avenged.
Human bodies soon will know our anger.
Kill them with your hogweed hairs
Heracleum mantegazziani

Giant hogweed lives

[alice_in_bubbaland]

Interesting! Thanks.

[Disambiguator]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTuJQL8GBqY

[mylife]

♪Stamp them out!♪ We must destroy them!♫

[Scythian]

It looks like Queen Ann’s Lace to me. And they say flowers the size of umbrella’s, on a plant? in New York? Not sure I believe that.

[Cheetahcat]

Hogweed the democrat of the plant world.

[Genoa]

The Return of the Giant Hogweed. Thanks much.

[PGR88]

Good luck trying to “nip these in the bud” - I see this plant everywhere now....

[Mr. Jazzy]

Is it called "Hog Weed" because the bloom looks like Jerry Nadler?

[Carry_Okie]

Exotic plants are the most significant environmental problem we face. The principle cause is the urban myth that "Nature" is self-regulating. Effectively, our biggest environmental problems are caused by environmental "protection," where active management is urgently needed.

This is a huge opportunity for both jobs and technology-development that cries for an alternative management architecture, one I have been advocating both technically and legally for over a decade.

[FrdmLvr]

Carpet Crawlers?

[mylife]

[Hurricane Andrew]

I swear I thought this thread had to be about another Genesis reunion!

[jtal]

Rapaccini’s Daughter

[Hurricane Andrew]

Or the Slippermen, perhaps. Though both postdated the Giant Hogweed.

[Scythian]

Wow, I stand corrected, these things are freakin’ huge !!

[Carry_Okie]

From Wikipedia:

Giant Hogweed is a phototoxic plant. Its sap can cause phytophotodermatitis (severe skin inflammations) when the skin is exposed to sunlight or to UV-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.[1] Presence of minute amounts of sap in the eyes can lead to temporary or even permanent blindness.[2]

However, control should be a piece of cake to manage because it takes so long for it to set seed:

Giant Hogweed is a short lived perennial (lasting typically between 5-7 years) with tuberous rootstalks that form perennating buds each year. It flowers in its final year from late spring to mid summer, with numerous white flowers clustered in an umbrella-shaped head that is up to 80 cm (2.5 ft) in diameter across its flat top. The plant produces 1,500 to 100,000 flattened, 1 cm long, oval dry seeds that have a broadly rounded base and broad marginal ridges. After seeds have set the individual plant dies. Plants in earlier stages of growth die down in the autumn. Tall dead stems may mark its locations during winter.

Hence, if it is detected as a juvenile before flowering, it is an easy thing to deal with. All that takes is A LANDOWNER who LIVES THERE to find and kill it. Hence, only an approach as incompetent as government's "rural cleansing" could turn this into a "huge problem."

QED again, as if I needed another example. Sigh. What government should have done is to preclude its entry, and (failing that) to provide information for detection and safe treatment.

[TheShaz]

[Ransomed]

Looks like giant queen anne’s lace.

Freegards