The Return of the Giant Hogweed!

[rickawakeman]

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/03/o...a-hogweed.html

This is some serious shit.

[Lopez]

Looks like Queen Anne's Lace or a carrot gone to seed. A regular Day of the Triffids.

[BravadoNJ]

as a kid, there was an empty lot on my block full of this stuff. my neighbor called it 'super parsnips' somehow related to carrots/ parsnips. one day her husband cleared the sidewalk of it- it grows so fast. he ended up in the hospital, the skin on his arms, chest and face were all full of blisters and open sores. so we pretty much stayed clear of the stuff. eventually they built a house there and cleared it all away.

[Sunlight Caller]

Interesting article, thanks for the link. It’s a story that never goes away, and could inspire another generation to write a song!

[GuitarGeek]

A regular Day of the Triffids.

That's what I thought when I first heard the song, it was like a Day Of The Triffids scenario. It was only sometime in the 90's that I realized that Hogweed was actually a real life plant. And then when I saw some photos, I realized I had actually read about when I was like 9 or 10, but I didn't remember that it was known as the giant hogweed, so didn't make the connection when I heard the song.

[spellbound]

Interesting that the giant hogweed is an invasive species in Russia. Here, two of the invasive species are Russian thistle (tumbleweeds) and Russian olive trees.