A large and beautiful fast growing plant.
This plant lives up to four years but is mostly biennial
The stem grows 2 meters high but in fertile moist soil
it can get 4 meters high. Sheeps are fond of Hogweed leaves.
Hogweed resembles cow parsnip, angelica, and poison hemlock,
but grows much larger.
Flowering
It flowers from spring ontil the end of summer,
producing large white flowers clustered in an
umbrella-shaped head.
Here the giant Hogwed forms an impregnable fence of
4 meters high. Were giant Hogweed grows, stinging
nettles are nearby.
Flowering starts at the end of the spring.
The large flower disk of the giant Hogweed attracts a lot
bees, the flowers have a strong sweet fragrance. The seeds
are eaten by the birds. Sheeps are fond on the leaves,
and have no problems with the needles.
living food
The hollow stem of the Giant hogweed
is 2-4 inches in diameter, containing huge amounts
of hibernating insects. During wintertime you can
collect the dead stems and place them in youre
terrarium, after a short time a large amount of
spiders and insects will get out of the hollow
stem.
The stem of the giant hogweed contains small needles.
The light seeds of the giant hogweed are spread ;br:
by the wind or by birds.
poison and photodermatitis
The thick stem is covered with coarse hairs,
and the stem contains a burning liquid,
when it contacts skin and reacts with (sun)light
it induces large blisters on the skin, for this
reason :use gloves when collecting hogweed stems.
Common hogweed and Giant hogweed
The common hogweed is much smaller and less invasive.
It doesn't have that stout, dark reddish-purple stem
of the giant hogweed .
The hollow stem of the giant hogweed is
covered with some white isolation
material, giving shelter for spiders and other
bugs during the winter.
