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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, 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.
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.
- Stems
- Leaves
- Flowers
Green and often with purple blotches and stiff, white, bristly hairs. Stems are hollow with ridges and have a thick circle of hairs at the base of each leaf stalk.
Huge, up to 1.5m wide and 3m long, deeply divided into smaller leaflets. It looks a bit like a rhubarb leaf, with irregular and very sharp or jagged edges - which has given rise to one of its other common names - wild rhubarb. The underside of the leaf is hairy.
Appear in June and July. They are small and white (or slightly pink) and are clustered on umbrella-like heads known as umbels that can reach a diameter of 60cm. All the flowers on the umbel face upwards.
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.
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 an immensely tall umbellifer (member of the carrot family) that displays large, white, umbrella-like clusters of flowers. Its hollow stem is ridged and purple-spotted, and its leaves are large and divided. Distribution. Scattered distribution throughout the UK. Habitats. Freshwater. Farmland. Wetlands. Woodland. Towns and gardens.
