Did somebody say "Triffids"?

[ironed_orchid]

Giant weed that can cause blindness popping up in Ontario, B.C.

A weed that can grow six metres tall, sprout massive leaves and produce toxic, blindness inducing sap is creeping into Ontario and parts of British Columbia.



Giant hogweed is easily identified by its teetering height. The leaves on the weed fan out as much as 1.5 metres in diameter. It is also identified by its tell-tale purple splotching on the stem and its umbrella-like cluster of white flowers.

The plant, which was spotted around the coast in British Columbia in late June, and is known to flourish in the Lower Mainland, Fraser Valley, Gulf Islands, and central to southern Vancouver Island, was discovered in the Renfrew County area in eastern Ontario on Thursday.

Jeff Muzzi, a manager of forestry services for Renfrew County, said officials have destroyed the toxic vegetation, but he said the indomitable weed has become a problem for other places in the province, including southwestern Ontario.

“It's giant. It's not a misnomer,” said Mr. Muzzi as he explained the wondrous plant the seems to sprout in waste land areas, like ditches and vacant lots.

David Galbraith, head of science at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Hamilton said he was intrigued by the enormous plant — which is part of the carrot family — when he saw a huge patch growing behind a gas station north of the Goderich, Ont. years ago.

“I thought it was the most amazing thing I'd ever seen, a great, big, huge spectacular plant,” said Mr. Galbraith as he explained its allure.

While it may look bewildering — almost begging to be examined by an amateur botanist or a green thumb — the consequences of touching the weed could scar a person for life.

“The sap gets activated by sunlight, so once you get out on the sun it reacts and can cause really bad burns, blistering and scars,” said Mr. Muzzi.

It has also been known to cause temporary blindness or, in extreme cases, permanent loss of eyesight, said Mr. Muzzi.

Hat tip to radicalyffe

Comments

[back_in_black]

I posted this on my journal and got a reply from someone who said the weed is a problem in Denmark as well, and gave this statement as a possible origin:

I'm told it was imported from Italy in the 19th century, because the dried plant was used for insulation when shipping art and stuff.

Who thought that was a good idea???

[ironed_orchid]

Yeah. Maybe they were all vampires who had bigger problems than reactive plant sap when it came to sunlight. Cos that's the only thing which makes any sense to me right now.