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Jun 29, 2022 · Common names: giant hogweed, giant cow parsnip, cartwheel plant, the Hog. Scientific name: Heracleum mantegazzianum. Family: Apiaceae. Habitat: derelict gardens, neglected urban places and waste ground, on rubbish tips, roadsides and by streams and rivers. Flowering season: June and July.
May 20, 2024 · This is how to identify giant hogweed, from its stems, leaves and flowers - see the difference between common hogweed, according to Woodland Trust.
Giant hogweed (Heracleum mantegazzianum) is tall with thick bristly stems that are often purple-blotched. It is in the same family as cow parsley but cow parsley has much finer, fern-like foliage and generally flowers from April to June, whereas giant hogweed tends to flower later in June and July.
Giant Hogweed is a notoriously dangerous plant which though uncommon in the UK is something you are likely to see if you spend a lot of time walking beside rivers and streams. That is its habitat; you will rarely find it far from a fresh water source.
Giant hogweed, unlike our native common hogweed, is a very large plant which can grow up to 5m tall. It has hundreds of individual small white flowers in summer, these are arranged in umbrella shaped flower-heads (umbels) and can produce between 20-50,000 of seeds each year.
How to identify giant hogweed. Giant hogweed can grow to an enormous size, often in excess of two metres and possibly as tall as five metres, with thick stems more than 8cm in diameter. The leaves hang heavy like tired hands, deep green with pronounced lobes and jagged edges.
Aug 31, 2021 · Giant hogweed has thick, green, bristly stems with an often mottled-purple appearance. It also has white, upwards facing flowers in summer, arranged in umbels which can be as large as 2ft (60cm) across. The jagged leaves are equally huge – up to 4.9ft (1.5m) wide and 9.8ft (3m) long.
