Neophytes - the giant hogweed

 
Neophytes - the giant hogweed

Neophytes are plants that were brought to Europe since the 16^th century. Their translation is literally “new plants”, which means that those plants weren’t always native to the place they were brought to. Some vegetables or plants got into new countries by trades like potatoes, corn, and tomatoes, but some plants got introduced unintendedly.

But what is the problem with introducing new plants to a different area of the world?
A life without potatoes, tomatoes, wheat and corn is unimaginable, and they’re not dangerous. But some brought plants are able to eradicate one, or multiple, native species by, for example, depriving light or converting air into nutrients, which can disturb the nutrient content in the soil. The right definition for those kinds of plants are “invasive species”

I’ll specifically talk about giant hogweed. They’re called Riesenbärenklau in German, can grow up to 350cm, its flower head consists out of white double umbels and is poisonous. The mix out of touching the plant and being under direct sunshine, can lead to sever burns. It also needs a lot of sun, high nutrient content soil, is hardy and can eradicate native plants, which why it’s one of the few “invasive species”. Their lifespan isn’t long though. Giant hogweed will rarely get older then two years. After the germination of the seeds, it remains compact in the first year and only forms leaves, but in the second season the hogweed drastically grows in height. It was brought to Europe around the year 1900 from Caucasus, and because the conditions were perfect, it spread drastically. Besides that, beekeepers use those big double umbels for bee food.

Giant hogweed, picture: Gouwenaar, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:20210702_Berenklauw_nabij_Earnewald.jpg, CC SA-BY 4.0 International