This Plant Can Burn Your Skin With its Sap—And It May Be Coming to Your Neighborhood
19th June 2018
It’s huge, it’s extremely dangerous, and it’s spreading. The giant hogweed (Heracleum mantegazzianum) contains a corrosive sap that causes severe rashes, third-degree burns, and even permanent blindness if you get the photosensitive chemicals on your skin or in your eyes, Science Alert reports.
No relation to David Hogg, of course. (Or is it?)
The noxious, invasive weed was just identified in Clarke County, Virginia, near the Massey Herbarium at Virginia Tech. That brings the number of states it’s been spotted in to 11, including Washington, Oregon, Illinois, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Maine. Beyond the U.S., it has taken root all over the world, from the UK to Iceland to Australia.
I bet kudzu can beat it. And I bet goats can eat it.