Monday, August 11, 2003

A Growing Danger

I have to start to trust information from family members.  When my fatherinlaw told me to watch out for the Giant Hogweed, I thought he was flashing back on one of my favorite old Genesis songs, which seems to be about marijuana growing wild in england.  No, he was thinking of something even less benign than pot - this plant actually burns your skin if it’s exposed to the sun.  You turn into a photoreceptor and your skin burns suddenly and seriously, sometimes with consequences years down the line. 

Horticulture.  The plants are striking back.  The pot you bust may be your own.

A “hogweed hot line” to report “sightings”.

Now that’s one hellava plant.

Wow...that is a serious plant.

Yikes. Bet we’ll see it used in a movie as a weapon in the future.

"Secure a perimeter, officer - this is another Hogweed killing and they can’t have gotten far.” - Next week on BioCops!

Yikes! It likes cold weather...ruh roh.

Now, tell me—has anyone tried to eat this stuff?  I don’t like rhubarb pie, but one or two people do.  Maybe it makes a good pie.

Who is going to be the guinea pig?  We are in the position ancient man was in when he saw rhubarb for the first time.  Raw—poisonous.  Cooked—well ... you can’t convince me. But someone had to experiment—here’s the call for volunteers!!