''Heracleum sphondylium'', commonly known as hogweed, common hogweed or cow parsnip, is a

herbaceous Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials. Definitions of "herb" and "herbaceous" The fourth edition ...

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

biennial plant A biennial plant is a flowering plant that, generally in a temperate climate, takes two years to complete its biological life cycle. Life cycle In its first year, the biennal plant undergoes primary growth, during which its vegetative structure ...

, in the

umbelliferous Apiaceae or Umbelliferae is a family of mostly aromatic flowering plants named after the type genus ''Apium'' and commonly known as the celery, carrot or parsley family, or simply as umbellifers. It is the 16th-largest family of flowering plants ...

family

Apiaceae Apiaceae or Umbelliferae is a family of mostly aromatic flowering plants named after the type genus '' Apium'' and commonly known as the celery, carrot or parsley family, or simply as umbellifers. It is the 16th-largest family of flowering plant ...

that includes

fennel Fennel (''Foeniculum vulgare'') is a flowering plant species in the carrot family. It is a hardy, perennial herb with yellow flowers and feathery leaves. It is indigenous to the shores of the Mediterranean but has become widely naturalized ...

, cow parsley,

ground elder ''Aegopodium podagraria'', commonly called ground elder, is a species of flowering plant in the carrot family Apiaceae that grows in shady places. The name "ground elder" comes from the superficial similarity of its leaves and flowers to those o ...

and giant hogweed. It is native to Europe and Asia. The common name eltrot may also be applied, but is not specific to this species. Umbelliferous plants are so named because of the umbrella-like arrangement of flowers they produce. The North American species '' Heracleum maximum'' (also called "cow parsnip") is sometimes included as a subspecies of ''H. sphondylium''. The plant provides a great deal of nectar for

pollinators A pollinator is an animal that moves pollen from the male anther of a flower to the female stigma of a flower. This helps to bring about fertilization of the ovules in the flower by the male gametes from the pollen grains. Insects are the ma ...

. It was rated in the top 10 for most nectar production (nectar per unit cover per year) in a UK plants survey conducted by the AgriLand project which is supported by the UK Insect Pollinators Initiative.

Etymology

The species name ''sphondylium'', meaning "vertebrate", refers to the shape of the segmented stem. It was described by

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, ...

in 1753.

Description

''Heracleum sphondylium'' is a tall, roughly hairy

biennial Biennial means (an event) lasting for two years or occurring every two years. The related term biennium is used in reference to a period of two years. In particular, it can refer to: * Biennial plant, a plant which blooms in its second year and th ...

usually reaching up to in height. The hollow, ridged stem with bristly hairs arises from a large tap root. The leaves can reach of length. They are once or twice pinnate, hairy and serrated, divided into 3–5 lobed segments. Hogweed has 5-petalled pinkish or white flowers, arranged in umbels usually less than 30 cm of diameter with 15 to 30 rays. The peripheral flowers have a radial symmetry (

zygomorphic Floral symmetry describes whether, and how, a flower, in particular its perianth, can be divided into two or more identical or mirror-image parts. Uncommonly, flowers may have no axis of symmetry at all, typically because their parts are spiral ...

). The terminal umbels are flat-topped and the outermost petals are enlarged.Parnell, J. and Curtis, Y. 2012. ''Webb's An Irish Flora''. Cork University Press. Flowering typically occurs between June and October. The flowers are pollinated by insects, such as beetles, wasps and especially flies. The small fruits are schizocarps, flattened and winged, elliptical to rounded and glabrous, up to 1 cm long. The seed dispersal is by wind (''anemochory''). The characteristic 'farm yardy' smell or the observation that pigs would eat the foliage and roots of hogweed is perhaps the origin of its common name. The leaves are commonly mined by the larvae of the leaf miner ''

Phytomyza spondylii ''Phytomyza spondylii'' is a species of leaf miner fly in the family Agromyzidae. The larvae develop inside the leaves of its host plant, making a conspicuous whitish mine. Host plants include '' Astrantia bieberstedtii'', red masterwort ''Astran ...

''. ''Heracleum sphondylium'' is smaller than dangerous '' Heracleum mantegazzianum'' (giant hogweed) and '' Heracleum sosnowskyi'' (Sosnowsky's hogweed), and should not be confused. However, it contains some of the same phytophototoxic compounds (

furanocoumarins The furanocoumarins, or furocoumarins, are a class of organic chemical compounds produced by a variety of plants. Most of the plant species found to contain furanocoumarins belong to a handful of plant families. The families Apiaceae and Rutacea ...

), albeit at lower concentrations, and there is evidence that the sap from common hogweed can also produce phytophotodermatitis (burns and rashes) when contaminated skin is exposed to sunlight. Care therefore needs to be used when cutting or trimming it, to prevent 'strimmers rash'. The small picture-winged fly '' Euleia heraclei'' is, as its name suggests, found on hogweed.

Distribution

''Heracleum sphondylium'' has a Eurasian distribution, growing throughout

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

and eastwards to central Asia. Its native range just extends into North Africa. The species has been introduced to suitable habitats elsewhere, such as Canada and the U.S. In particular, ''H. sphondylium'' is recorded as introduced to Ontario by the Database of Vascular Plants of Canada but reports of ''H. sphondylium'' in Canada are rare.

Habitat

The plant is common in grassland, herb-rich meadows, in hedges, meadows and woods, road verges and railway embankments, waste and cultivated ground. It grows especially well on moist, improved nitrogen-rich soils. It can occur in mountain areas up to of altitude.

Uses

In the 18th century, people on the

Kamchatka Peninsula The Kamchatka Peninsula (russian: полуостров Камчатка, Poluostrov Kamchatka, ) is a peninsula in the Russian Far East, with an area of about . The Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Okhotsk make up the peninsula's eastern and we ...

distilled a spirit called ''raka'' from a "sweet grass" that was most likely ''H. sphondylium''. The raka was flavored with blue-berried honeysuckle (''

Lonicera caerulea ''Lonicera caerulea'', also known by its common names blue honeysuckle, sweetberry honeysuckle, fly honeysuckle (blue fly honeysuckle), blue-berried honeysuckle, or the honeyberry, is a non-climbing honeysuckle native throughout the cool temper ...

'').

Borscht Borscht () is a sour soup common in Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. In English, the word "borscht" is most often associated with the soup's variant of Ukrainian origin, made with red beetroots as one of the main ingredients, which g ...

derives from an ancient soup originally cooked from pickled stems, leaves and umbels of common hogweed. The young shoots are considered excellent eating by many foragers. In eastern European countries and especially Romania, ''H. sphondylium'' is used as an

aphrodisiac An aphrodisiac is a substance that increases sexual desire, sexual attraction, sexual pleasure, or sexual behavior. Substances range from a variety of plants, spices, foods, and synthetic chemicals. Natural aphrodisiacs like cannabis or coca ...

and to treat gynecological and fertility problems and impotence. It is also sometimes recommended for

epilepsy Epilepsy is a group of non-communicable neurological disorders characterized by recurrent epileptic seizures. Epileptic seizures can vary from brief and nearly undetectable periods to long periods of vigorous shaking due to abnormal electrical ...

. However, there are no clinical studies to prove its efficacy at treating any of these problems. The seeds can be dried and used as a spice, with a flavour similar to that of

cardamom Cardamom (), sometimes cardamon or cardamum, is a spice made from the seeds of several plants in the genera ''Elettaria'' and ''Amomum'' in the family Zingiberaceae. Both genera are native to the Indian subcontinent and Indonesia. They are r ...

Subspecies

This species has variable characteristics and many forms have been described. The following names are accepted by

The Plant List The Plant List was a list of botanical names of species of plants created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and the Missouri Botanical Garden and launched in 2010. It was intended to be a comprehensive record of all known names of plant species ...

: * ''H. sphondylium'' var. ''akasimontanum'' (Koidz.) H. Ohba * ''H. sphondylium'' subsp. ''algeriense'' (Coss. ex Batt. & Trab.) Dobignard * ''H. sphondylium'' subsp. ''alpinum'' (L.) Bonnier & Layens * ''H. sphondylium'' subsp. ''aurasiacum'' (Maire) Dobignard * ''H. sphondylium'' subsp. ''embergeri'' Maire * ''H. sphondylium'' subsp. ''granatense'' (Boiss.) Briq. * ''H. sphondylium'' var. ''lanatum'' (Michx.) Dorn * ''H. sphondylium'' subsp. ''montanum'' (Schleich. ex Gaudin) Briq. (synonyms: '' Heracleum lanatum'', '' Heracleum maximum'') * ''H. sphondylium'' var. ''nipponicum'' (Kitag.) H. Ohba * ''H. sphondylium'' subsp. ''orsinii'' (Guss.) H.Neumayer * ''H. sphondylium'' subsp. ''pyrenaicum'' (Lam.) Bonnier & Layens * ''H. sphondylium'' subsp. ''sibiricum'' (L.) Simonk. (synonym: ''Heracleum sibiricum'' L.) * ''H. sphondylium'' subsp. ''suaveolens'' (Litard. & Maire) Dobignard * ''H. sphondylium'' subsp. ''ternatum'' (Velen.) Brummitt * ''H. sphondylium'' subsp. ''transsilvanicum'' (Schur) Brummitt * ''H. sphondylium'' subsp. ''trifoliolatum'' (Blanch.) Kerguélen * ''H. sphondylium'' var. ''tsaurugisanense'' (Honda) H. Ohba * ''H. sphondylium'' subsp. ''verticillatum'' (Pančić) Brummitt

Similar species

The

water parsnip Water parsnip is a common name given to a number of flowering plants in the family Apiaceae, including those from the Berula and Sium genera. *Berula :*''Berula erecta'', cutleaf water parsnip or water parsnip *Sium :*''Sium latifolium'', greater w ...

(''Sium suave''),

western water hemlock ''Cicuta douglasii'', the western water hemlock, is a very poisonous perennial plant in the family Apiaceae. Description The plant's roots are thick and tuberous, with many smaller tubers on the main one, allowing survival in wet conditio ...

(''Cicuta douglasii'') and

spotted water hemlock ''Cicuta maculata'' is a highly poisonous species of flowering plant in the carrot family known by several common names, including spotted water hemlock, spotted parsley, spotted cowbane, and the suicide root by the Iroquois. It is native to nea ...

(''Cicuta maculata'') all have white flowers in large compound umbels, which can lead to misidentification. All water hemlock and poison hemlock are highly poisonous, but water parsnip is not. Both have clusters of small white flowers shaped like umbrellas, and have the same habitat near the shore line of lakes and rivers. Water parsnip has leaves only once compound, and water hemlock has leaves which are three times compound. Water hemlock has a large swelling at the stem base, and has bracts at the base of each small flower cluster, not at the base of the main flower head. The water parsnip has small bracts at the base of flowers and main flower head as well. The cow parsnips ('' Heracleum lanatum'', '' Heracleum maximum'') are also confused in this group with similar flower groupings. However, the cow parsnips have large, broad leaves, and an unpleasant odour.

References

External links

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q752675 Apioideae Medicinal plants of Asia Medicinal plants of Europe Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus