Common Hogweed
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Common Hogweed | ||||||||||||||
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Heracleum sphondylium
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Heracleum sphondylium L. |
Common Hogweed (Heracleum sphondylium) is an herbaceous biennial plant of the family Apiaceae, which grows in the prairies of Eurasia. It prefers rich humid soils. It is smaller in size than the Giant Hogweed (Heracleum mantegazzianum). It is an umbelliferous plant, in the same group as fennel, cow parsley, elder and giant hogweed. Umbelliferous plants are so named because of the umbrella-like arrangement of flowers they produce.
In Europe there are nine named subspecies.
Common Hogweed differs from giant hogweed in the absence of bristles on its stem. Rather, it it smooth, akin to bamboo.