#common hogweed

Zaaddozen van gewone berenklauw (Heracleum sphondylium). 10-08-2023. (actm.) 02

I walked past two types of hogweed yesterday within 20 metres of one another so I thought I'd do a photo comparison.....not least because it's that time of year when the countryside is covered in hogweed of one kind or another and the tabloids like to whip up mass panic about it.

Common hogweed is our native hogweed and it is everywhere. It can grow to around 2m tall but its flower heads are around 20cm in diameter. GIANT hogweed is exactly that. Giant. It can grow to be 4m tall with flower heads that are up to 80cm in diameter. The stem of the common hogweed is green, hairy and with ridges running along its length, whereas giant hogweed has a thick, much smoother stem with distinctive purple blotches.