The Dangerous Weed That Could Be Growing In Your Backyard

It doesn’t look like much – at first – but the plant known as giant hogweed can grow to be quite large, not to mention quite a large problem.

Certainly Darrel Downey knows that as well as anyone. The Toronto man sat idly by as the seemingly innocuous plant climbed up through the various foliage on his Royal York and Lake Shore property, only learning of the potential dangers and taking action when it was nearly too late.

“I have no idea how it came here,” he said. “It was in the back part of my property where it wasn’t really bothering anybody and once it grew past the height of my fence it started to concern me.”

With good reason.

The plant is most easily identified by its mottled purple stalk and it can grow up to five metres high, unfurling somewhat majestically into dozens of less-than-gorgeous flowers.

But even the most gorgeous flowers on earth wouldn’t make it worth the risk. After all, temporary blindness is one of potential reactions just from touching the plant. Severe blistering from handling the sap is another worth fearing.

“If the plant is wet, there will be compounds accumulating on the surface which many people react to,” said University of Toronto Professor James Eckenwalder.

Cities on Canada’s pacific coast including Burnaby and Chilliwack B.C. have issued official warnings about giant hogweed, though Toronto Public Health hasn’t followed suit.

The plant’s origins are in Asia, though it made its way to southern Ontario at least 20 years ago. It’s not a huge public concern as of now, but if you see it, attack it.

“On the whole it’s not something you have to worry about because most people are not going to be encountering it,” Prof. Eckenwalder assures.

But Downey was one such unlucky person who had to deal with an instance, and needed to purchase a hazardous materials suit just to uproot the weed.

For more on giant hogweed, click here.

And to find out how to get rid of it if it pops up on your property, click here.