[blam]

I'll see if I can find a picture

[colorado tanker]

What's next? Attack by killer tomatoes?

[dead]

Invasive Weeds Can Cause Blisters, Blindness

Nicknamed the “masturbation weed.”

[blam]

Giant Hogweed

[Redcloak]

I just read that the powdered seeds of this plant reduce flatulence when sprinkled over beans.

[RonF]

Buy some brush (better) or weed (O.K.) killer concentrate. The systemic ones that don't kill right away but are absorbed by the leaves and work down into the roots are best. Cut off the stem reasonably close to the ground. Paint the fresh cut with the concentrated killer. I use this method with mulberry bushes. Usually, cutting them is a waste of time because they just come right up again from the roots, but this works. Cutting the plant before it seeds out is key.

[redhead]

"A similar related species, cow parsnip, is often mistaken for giant hogweed..."

Wild cow parsnip is all OVER Alaska. It looks like this:

It has CAUSTIC juice. It can be eaten if picked early enough, but non-Natives don't usually look at it as a food. My son tried to eat it raw when he was a tyke, and got 2nd degree burns all around his mouth, in his mouth, down his belly. He still has scars. As far as I know, the plant is not TOXIC, but it is caustic. Beware.

[robertpaulsen]

[ElkGroveDan]

While we are on the topic of invasive plants, here's one you don't want in your neighborhood. It's really fun on bare legs. Lots of it out behind my house.

Yellow Star Thistle
Public Plant Enemy #1

The Yellow Star Thistle has infested over 8 million acres in California and threatens every Western state. The Verde watershed is especially vulnerable to this noxious weed and property owners need totake aggressive action to eradicate this dangerous pest before it is too late.

[Thinkin' Gal]

...an invasive, noxious weed that has been found in Massachusetts.

Once established, giant hogweed is difficult to control without chemicals

[truenospinzone]

Invasive Weed Can Cause Blisters, Blindness

You know, I seem to remember being told by my grandmother that something else causes those same symptoms...

[Carry_Okie]

There is a whole chapter in my book on this topic. (I'm not going to excerpt it here as the quotes would be too long.) As far as I am concerned, exotic species are the most serious environmental problem we have, one that actually has alarming consequences. The current system operates as an enormous trade subsidy. From what I have seen government has made the problem far worse and threatens to make it into the most massive and disastrous public works program in the nation's history.