Just came across this load of tosh (headline) which made me splutter in my coffee.
http://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/britains-most-toxic-plant-reportedly-spreading-across-uk-after-heatwave/ar-BBDU0EE?li=AAnZ9Ug&ocid=mailsignout
Britain's most toxic plant reportedly spreading across UK after heatwave...
To say it's 'spreading' after the heatwave is a tad misleading.
The article makes it sound like the plant grows and spreads like the clappers in the heat when most likely it's more to do with the fact more people venture into areas where the plant is growing when the weather is good. It's been a menace for as long as I can remember. The headline writers should have known better but then perhaps not.
The giant hogweeds were introduced into Britain and Europe from the Caucasus Mountains in the nineteenth century. The earliest documented reference to their introduction into Britain that has been traced is from the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew Seed List of 1817 where giant hogweed, under the name of Heracleum giganteum was listed among seeds supplied to Kew by the Russian Gorenki Botanic Gardens. They were soon introduced into the horticultural trade and being aesthetically impressive plants, were widely planted in ornamental gardens throughout Britain. Unfortunately they quickly escaped from cultivation with the first naturalised (‘wild’) population recorded in Cambridgeshire in 1828, and are now widely naturalised as invasive species throughout much of Britain and Europe.
Nick
Vale of the Great Dairies
South Dorset
Elevation 60m 197ft