Friday, September 08, 2006

Giant Hogweed confirmed in 2nd Illinois county

Giant hogweed was confirmed in DuPage county last week. The second infestation to be identified in Illinois is found at the Morton Arboretum. This infestation has been present at the arboretum for approximately 5 years. Staff at the arboretum have an active monitoring and eradication program in place. No seeds have been released from the plants in recent years.

Check out the Virtual Herbarium for plant description and herbarium specimen (http://www.vplants.org/plants/gallery/index.jsp?gid=19103)

1 comments:

Bill H. said...

My son was exposed to Hogsweed In Channahon Illinois in Will County this week. He was weed whacking and the sap sprayed on his forearms. He developed the blisters shown in the photos. These plants were of a smaller size than the giant Hogweed photos we observed and the flower part was a yellow in color. Not White. The leaves and flowers were identical to the photos in every other way. We stopped cutting the plants after his injuries were sustained. We would like to contact someone who can positively identify the plants and give us a suggestion or help us in there safe removal.

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