A venomous giant out of control

Press, 21 July 1982, Page 21

A venomous giant out of control

to hospital a week during the summer season. People in England and Wales must beware of it too, especially in the Tyne, Mersey, and Thames regions.

If human skin exposed to sunlight just brushes against the giant hogweed’s bristles, its sap causes rashes, acute blistering — “and in some cases recurring dermatitis,” says Dr Forbes. It is a special danger to adventurous children who are attracted by its great size.

Along the Tweed, the Borders Regional Council is masterminding a combined attack on it by local authorities, water boards, landowners, and amenity societies. In some places it has been growing so densely that anglers, birdwatchers and summer time strollers cannot get down to the riverbank.

Quentin McLaren has another count against it. “It kills off everything that grows in its shade. When it dies back in the winter, there is nothing left but bare earth, which causes winter erosion of the riverbanks. This stuff is a menace.”

Giant hogweed (Heracleum mantegazzianum) was imported from the Russian Caucasus at the end of the nineteenth century as a spectacular decorative plant for the gardens of great houses. A labour-intensive way to fight it is to cut it cown just before it seeds. Dr Forbes and his colleagues are trying to find a herbicide that will kill nothing but hogweed seedlings.

By

GEORGE ROSIE

“Sunday Times,” London