Name and details please.

[piscatus absentis]

O.K.  I know it's not a triffid.  What is it?

[Pete]

PA
Giant hog weed.  Noxious stuff.  The sap is causes photosensitivity of the skin which leads to severe burns when exposed to daylight.  What's more this effect can last years!  They produce hundreds, if not thousands, of seeds from each flower which stay viable for years.  There were a few on the Almond when I started fishing there four or five years back, now they are widespread with some areas infested like a jungle, that is the bits not covered by Knotweed or himalayan balsam  :worms

Pete

[Wildfisher]

Giant hogweed. For f***s  sake  do not get the sap on your bare skin. It is a wonderful and magnificent plant but not human contact friendly.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_Hogweed

[Wildfisher]

Sorry Pete, we both posted at the same time. I would  add that I believe Japanese knotweed to be a bigger problem even although it is not dangerous like hogweed.

[Pete]

Fred
Your are right about the Knotweed.  It would seem to be virtually indestructible and when it dies back in the winter it leaves the banks bare ready for the winter floods to wash away both the banks and the roots thereby spreading the plant over vast downstream stretches.

God know what the Almond will look like in ten years.

Pete

[Black-Don]

Was there not a campaign on ITV / STV years ago where, if you found Giant Hogweed you were to inform the authorities of the location and they would carry out an extermination programme because of the attraction and danger to kids.

Have they now given up on this or do they still exterminate on discovery ?

[Texxa]

Its illegal to have it growing on your land

[Wildfisher]

Its illegal to have it growing on your land

Don't think so. Most of the Don proprietors would be prosecuted. Under the wildlife and countryside act 1981 I think it's illegal to distribute it (and also many other species) in the  wild.

[Pete]

Correct Fred.  You do not even need to notify anyone if it is on your land.  It only becomes an offence if you "let it spread" to neighbouring properties/land in which case you can be prosecuted.  The cost for removal of this stuff is horrendous btw as it is classed as toxic/hazardous waste the disposal of which is very costly.

Pete