Hey Abe! :hibye:
Thanks for the warning! :shocked:
I looked at your links, and found a New York State federal link on the topic, it's scary!
My area happens to have up to 400 identified plants (and who knows how many more unidentified ones!)! It's good to view the pics of the plants, just to know what to avoid. These things aren't just in fields and large lawns -- they're also in urban areas growing along fences on the sidewalks in some places! Eeesh!
This stuff is worse than poison ivy / poison oak/ poison sumac: This stuff grows to over 15 FEET TALL (Yeah, that's at least 5 meters for you non-U.S.A' ers!) and is extremely invasive. It's skin rash can cause scarring for years, and can even cause blindness. And it's not even a native species! :eek:
It originated from Asia and was imported to Europe and North America for ornamental purposes in gardens (due to its impressive size). It can grow just about anywhere, and easily spreads due it's number of seeds. It escaped these gardens and is now invading wherever it can happen to grow. :assimilation:
Learn to recognize these plants while they're still small and manageable (the larger they grow, the harder they are to get rid of). Be sure to eradicate their taproots while young.
There's loads of this near us. It follows the water course usually, and we have a river and a canal that cross.
I was running this morning and its everywhere on the opposite side of the bank. Most of it well over six or seven feet tall. (but as MM said, it can get far taller)
I remember there being a scare in Britain when I was about ten, because some kids were making blowpipes out of the stalks and getting burned. My mum pointed it out to me then and I've spotted it every year since.
My kids and I always watch out for the "triffids". I've never seen it on cultivated land, only in hedgerows and on wasteland. It does grow to quite a height.
Hi Malkah,
There are a lot worse introduced plants in the UK than hog weed. The RSPB seems to have given up the struggle on their reserves.
I recall how a chap who worked for me was given two weeks off work for chicken pox by a doctor. It turned out he had been attacking hog weed with a brush cutter...it was a hot day and he had his shirt off and the bits had plastered him.
When we talk on the phone we still laugh about his 'quarantine' .
regards
Derek