Beautiful, but dangerous: how a poisonous hogweed took over the whole world, and what to do in case of contact with a plant

The dangerous hogweed plant has become a worldwide problem. On contact with human skin, hogweed can cause dangerous and painful burns. Writes about it with the BBC.

Photo: Shutterstock

The juice of this weed in combination with moisture in the air and sunlight can cause severe burns of the skin and eyes, painful blisters, wounds and even blindness.

The contact between the skin and the juice of this plant occurs when the stem is damaged or the leaves are broken, or when it touches the stem containing bristles that cling to the skin.

Hogweed from the Caucasus got to the USA. Naturally, people brought them. It was imported as an exotic ornamental plant at the end of the XNUMXth century. In the USSR, hogweed began to be used as a forage crop. Due to its toxicity and too aggressive spread, the idea of ​​using it in the household and gardening was quickly abandoned. But the plant began to spread en masse.

Oskars Meznieks, a Latvian farmer, has been destroying hogweed on his own for eight years in the areas adjacent to his farm.

“I benefit from destroying it where it is rather than waiting for it to come and dealing with the consequences,” he says.

How to recognize a hogweed

Mantegazzi's hogweed (Heracleum mantegazzianum), popularly known as the giant hogweed, is a very large green plant topped with clusters of small white flowers. During flowering, individual plants can grow to a height of 8 to 14 feet (2,4o to 4,30 meters).

Photo: Shutterstock

Their leaves can be up to one and a half meters in length. It has hollow, ribbed stems 2-4 inches (5-10 cm) in diameter with reddish-purple spots.

Photo: Shutterstock

The sap of the plant, which does not cause discomfort upon contact, ultimately makes the skin more sensitive to sunlight - exposure to the sun after contact with hogweed can cause blisters and severe burns. Usually, the skin becomes most sensitive to the sun's rays 2 hours after exposure to the juice. But she can become sensitive within 15 minutes after touching the plant. Injuries usually develop within 24 to 48 hours after plant interaction.

What to do if you touched the hogrivy

After an unintentional contact with the plant, the person may not feel the disc, until he is completely out of the picture. The hogweed juice contains furanokumapin, which reduces the ability of the cells to protect the organism from the aggressive effects of sunny light. Therefore, upon contact with the sun, having the juice of this plant on the body, you can get very severe burns.

Burns and blisters from them usually heal within a few months, but in some cases this process takes a longer period.

For those who have had contact with weeds, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommends the following:

• it is not necessary to flush the space of rivalry with a larger volume of flow water;
• avoid soldering the sun rays on the surface during the 48 clock;
• in case of blistering and pain, immediately consult a doctor and do not try to self-medicate.

People who think they may have discovered a giant hogweed, which is listed as a Noxious Weed by the United States Department of Agriculture, should notify local environmental authorities who can remove it using special protective equipment.

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