Blinding Hogweed Plant Found in Rural Michigan

In this video from 2012, Peter Carrington, a toxic plant expert at MSU, explains how he up-rooted the Giant Hogweed.

If you’re planning on walking through the west Michigan wilderness, you might want to pack your Roundup.

Well being officers in Calhoun County, Michigan, are advising warning after the damaging plant was noticed within the county. It has since been removed by officials, but nature lovers are still instructed to use caution; just because this one has been taken down doesn’t mean there aren’t others. As further safety precaution, the former site of the plant will be monitored county officials for the next several years.

The sap, leaves, roots, flowers, seeds, and stem hairs all carry toxins which can cause blindness if they make contact with the eye.

Health officials in Michigan have identified a risky plant that can cause painful bruises, burns and blindness, WWMT.com reported.

“Giant Hogweed is a public health hazard that ranks up there higher than poison ivy, poison oak and poison sumac in respect to its potential to harm humans”, the Michigan Department of Agriculture & Rural Development says on its website. It was introduced here in the 1900s from the Caucasus Mountain region between the Black and Caspian seas to display in arboretums and gardens.

It’s mostly present in New England, the Mid-Atlantic area and the Northwest, typically rising alongside streams and rivers and in fields, forests, yards and roadsides, specialists say.

The state of Michigan adopted a search-and-destroy policy toward the plant in 1998 to help keep it from spreading. The stem is covered with bristles baring either dark red or purple spots, and the plant has a white flower.

Hogweed can grow to 18 feet in height and flowers from late spring to mid-summer. Even a simple brush against the plant can release its poisonous sap, which can lead to its severe side effects within 24 hours.