This is growing down the block from me. Have I identified it correctly as Heracleum sphondylium, hogweed/American cow parsnip? Is it likely to cause harm to children or pets growing so close to the sidewalk? Will we all be growing it soon?
With those big jagged leaves with many divisions there is not doubt that it is the non-native giant hogweed and not the native cow parsnip. The native has much fewer divisions in the basal leaves, with a more even progression of leaves up the flowering stems.
Ron, what is the difference between two non-native Heracleum, H. mantegazzianum and H. sphondylium, except their sizes? Both species occurr in your state. But only the giant hogweed, H. mantegazzianum, extends into BC.
And while you're answering Andrey, I thought Heracleum mantegazzianum, also called giant cow parsley, is supposed to have "dark reddish-purple stems and spotted leaf stalks that are hollow and produce sturdy bristles" (Wikipedia). Is it only because it's so young that I didn't notice any of that? The stems looked so innocently soft and downy.
doesn't hogweed 'juice' react with light to cause blisters! be very careful when removing this. Maybe City Staff could help?
Definitely Giant Hogweed Heracleum mantegazzianum. They differ markedly in leaf shape; Common Hogweed H. sphondylium has obtuse, not acuminate, lobe tips. More difficult to distinguish between European H. sphondylium and N American H. maximum (which is sufficiently similar to H. sphondylium that some botanists consider it just a subspecies or variety of the European species). Some pics H. sphondylium: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Heracleum_sphondylium_blad.jpg http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Heracleum_sphondylium_blatt.jpeg http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HeracleumSphondylium3.jpg H. maximum: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Heracleum_maximum_1.jpg http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Heracleum_maximum_2.jpg H. mantegazzianum: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Heracleum_mantegazzianum_Sausal_-_leaf.jpg http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:BerceCaucaseNancy.JPG http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Heracleum_mantegazzianum5.jpg Useful article on Giant Hogweed: http://www.giant-alien.dk/pdf/Giant_alien_uk.pdf (pdf file)
Thanks, Michael, now I clearly see the difference. Without pictures, however, using only word description, I would have difficult time identifying them individually.
Thanks for the nudge, growing4it, and the suggestion how to proceed. It turns out that on the City of Vancouver website, there's a webpage for Giant Hogweed that requests So I phoned and talked to Julian who wrote up a work order. He said it will be investigated within three days and is to be completed within 10 days. The city will either remove it or will give the homeowner an order to remove it and will follow up. A lot better than my trying to talk to them about it.
Just adding two photos that help demonstrate the giant hogweed ID. Could it have changed so much in two days? Yesterday there was plenty of purple colouring on the stems and nasty-looking spikes too. It's clearly already been trampled.
