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Hogweed - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A buddy of mine posted some Facebook pics of him giving a lecture on why this plant is rather unfriendly. I had no idea it was such an asskicker. :lol:

Giant Hogweed Heracleum mantegazzianum A native of the Caucasus Mountains, grows to 4-5m tall, and can cause severe phytophotodermatitis if the sap gets on human skin. The main mechanism for this dermatitis is extreme photosensitivity, causing severe sunburn on exposure to relatively small amounts of sunlight, with rash and blistering appearing within a few minutes: accordingly immediately covering sap-affected skin can prevent the dermatitis in many cases. It has become a serious invasive weed in many areas of Europe and North America, after being introduced as a garden plant.

 

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[fathead]

That looks deceptively like queen anne's lace which is everywhere around here.

 

[Soopahmahn]

If you smoke Hogweed you see the light.

 

[Leon]

Yep, that stuff is around here. Never had a problem with it, so the local species must not be too harmful.

 

[sami]

I've been wondering... What's the name of that plant from that myth/story/whatever that's supposed to kill you when you pull it out of the ground? The cruelest part of what I remember is that they used to tie it onto a dog's tail so the dog would die pulling it. Anyone know what I'm talking about?

 

[SchecterWhore]

I've been wondering... What's the name of that plant from that myth/story/whatever that's supposed to kill you when you pull it out of the ground? The cruelest part of what I remember is that they used to tie it onto a dog's tail so the dog would die pulling it. Anyone know what I'm talking about?

You're thinking mandrake, genus Mandragora. The thing about people dying from pulling it out is bullshit. The plant is full of tropane alkaloids, though, which can be lethal when consumed, and also cause some crazy delirium in non-lethal doses.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandrake_(plant)

There's a ton of solanaceous plants that have those tropane alkaloids and interesting mythologies around them.

 

[sami]

Thanks!! It's been one of those things that I've been passively trying to figure out for years. Yeah, I figured it was just a wives-tale thing about it. I'll prolly forget it again here shortly and start wondering all over again :lol:

 

[Joey]

dang, ninja'd to the genesis post.

 

[SchecterWhore]

:ninja: