Summer Plant from Hell: Giant Hogweed Can Burn, Scar and Blind You

This is from 2011, I did a search and found nothing. this plant is very scary just brushing against it can cause blindness, highly toxic.

Heracleum Mantegazzianum -- a plant more commonly known as the giant hogweed and native to Central Asia -- is spreading fast in several states, and experts are urging some residents to beware. The tall plant with large, attractive flowers the size of umbrellas contains sap that causes blisters, burns, even blindness.

The growing concern over the plant's dangerous toxicity has put health officials in several states on a hogweed hunt.

abcnews.go.com...

www.youtube.com...

a reply to: nighthawk1954

Here's an image, since I see the article didn't provide one.
(found one with a kid for scale):

Whoa, a new local free weapon.

Heracleum Mantegazzianum

It has also spread in the northeastern and northwestern United States and southern Canada.

I guess keep an eye out for your kids? Lol, that picture above equates to child neglect/abuse to me. Then again it's the sap that's toxic. So, it's just one of those what ifs? The more you know.

Ive seen theses plants all my life here in the north east. I used to hack them down with my weed eater. I never received a burn or anything.

Maybe i got lucky.

We have these in PA. Never had an issue, I am sure I pulled a couple of these out of the ground.

-JT

a reply to: shaneslaughta

Maybe i got lucky.

Wow! Good for you. Kind of like poison ivy then, I guess. Some of us are quite sensitive to being anywhere near it - but others are immune. Also - some years one can be allergic and other years not. I used to have a horrible phobia of the stuff.

I've overcome it, but the last time I rassled some, I was 'careless' and didn't strip and shower immediately afterwards, and suffered for weeks with it. And NEVER, EVER burn it, dead or alive, any part of it. That can kill you. I have an ancestral family member who died of poison ivy.

Here's a hint that might work for this giant hogweed - I know it works for poison ivy. If you are out in the woods and can't get to a place to 'wash' immediately, rub sand or dirt onto the area exposed. It works EVERY TIME (learned that in a survival class)...if you are just in your yard, you can use mouthwash or rubbing alcohol to neutralize it. Also, poison ivy is less toxic when wet. Copious rinsing in water MIGHT remove the oils. And it's ONLY WHERE THE OIL GETS ON YOU that you get the blisters. It doesn't "spread" - the 'juice' from the blisters does not spread it. The only way you can get it systemically is to eat it or breathe the smoke. Then, death is possible.

Horrid plant-We also have it in parts of the UK,its second only to Japanese knotweed on our list of worst invasive species list.
The Victorians brought it here,thinking it was a nice ornamental plant and now its spread.They did the same with rhododendrens which are another blight.

a reply to: BuzzyWigs

I'm horribly allergic to poison ivy but not this stuff. I just got poison ivy from some seemingly dead vines while cutting some tree down a few days ago.

Are you saying the poison ivy juice from the blisters cant spread or the hog weed blister juice?

a reply to: shaneslaughta

The poison ivy blister juice. I was just wondering if the same might be true for the sap of this giant thing.

Or, maybe you just aren't allergic to it! Sorry about the P.I. Yeah, even if it's dead, it's toxic. The sand/dirt thing works like a charm though. When my gloves touch it a bit (P.I.), I just rub them in the soil for a few seconds...and move on.

a reply to: BuzzyWigs

I can tell you this. If i scratch my blisters it does spread. Three days ago it was in one small patch now its on both arms in a pattern of the same direction of my scratching.

Your very correct about burning it. Those who area allergic can cause your airways to collapse. I bet its similar for hog weed.

a reply to: Silcone Synapse In Canada we pay good money for rhododendrens I guess one mans junk is another's gold

a reply to: shaneslaughta

If i scratch my blisters it does spread. Three days ago it was in one small patch now its on both arms in a pattern of the same direction of my scratching.

It may seem like it does - but actually you probably got the oil on both arms and it just took a few days longer to inflame...

anyway, that was information I got years ago during my phobic-times. Doctor told me. But maybe that's wrong. You know, every person is different.

Once you have the rash the oil has been absorbed and you probably can't spread it to others or elsewhere on yourself. If you get big blisters filled with liquid it is mostly water and will not spread the rash even if they break. (Although I have viewers who SWEAR that the fluid does cause further outbreaks.)

Poison Ivy FAQ

also another source:

Poison Ivy Myth
Is poison ivy contagious? Many people think it is, and it is easy to see why, since the rash you get from poison ivy looks as if it should be contagious. But this is one of the biggest myths that is spread about poison ivy. Poison ivy rashes are not contagious. The fluid from blisters and the rash can not spread the rash.

The reason that the classic poison ivy rash seems to spread is that different areas of a person's body typically have different levels of exposure to the urushiol of poison ivy that causes the rash. The rash can also seem to spread if you are re-exposed or if you are exposed to clothing or other inanimate objects that were contaminated and had contact with the poison ivy plants.

Poison Ivy Myths and Facts

If it gets on your clothes, the oil residue can re-expose you if you touch it. Also, anything that has touched it needs to be thoroughly cleaned/wiped off (including tools, shoes, pets, gloves, etc.) Rubbing dirt on the tools (just plunging them into the ground repeatedly) seems to work for me.

a reply to: BuzzyWigs

Good info. Ill just take it as a case by case scenario.
Whats true for some may not be the same for others.

a reply to: shaneslaughta

True that!
I feel for ya, bro. It's the worst. My dad got it once all over his body from cutting down a tree with the neighbor. It was horrible. It's hellish. In fact, I used to say that if I went to hell, for me it would be covered in poison ivy with a cold cup of coffee in my hand and perpetual 'explosive fluids' emitted from my guts.

LOL!!

Anyway - sorry to the OP for derailing. Interesting conversation, though. Be careful out there, peeps!

ETA: To make up for derailing the topic, here's a source for facts about giant hogweed:
Giant Hogweed 8 Facts
Apparently the stuff makes skin photosensitive...
at the source they show pics of the rash, and say that if the sap gets in your eyes is how it can blind you. Nasty stuff.
Not itchy, though, from what I can tell. Just awful. And leaves scars (which P.I. never does, at least on me).

As I long time resident of the Sonoran desert... I miss lush, huge plants that don't poke holes in you... even IF they're highly toxic.

And some highly toxic plants are really fun!

a reply to: BuzzyWigs

Its quite interesting. The photo-sensitivity must be how it causes burns? just guessing here.

There's look-a-like plants also. And they're harmless.

I don't know if they grow as large, I had the lookalike at my previous house. Lots of it.
I have no idea what the lookalike is called.

Best just to not touch anything that looks like it

I used to hack this down in the woods all the time as a kid playing in the woods and building camps, then we used to smoke it in the autumn when it was dry and hollowed out

Still alive

Yep, as a kid in playing in the woods in Alaska. I've seen them, cut them down with my walking stick.
Never any burns, still see....etc, never touched though.

But when I was raised, if you don't know... Don't take, don't touch, don't eat policy was beaten into my psyche, lol. I had a friend once wipe his but with a poisonious plant. He never did it again.

a reply to: BuzzyWigs

I'm glad you provided an image, because info about what a plant could do isn't much if one cannot identify the plant in the wild.

I don't think I've seen any here in east-central Missouri--I'd remember that size.

Or maybe I just hike in the wrong (or right?) places.