Poisonous plant back in the canals

A POISONOUS plant that was  thought to have been eliminated from the country's waterways has been discovered in the Grand Union Canal.

The Environment Agency has confirmed, that the plant, giant hogweed, has been found growing in the canal at Linslade by Bridge 114, Alan Tilbury reveals.

The plant has been outlawed from the country, as it was  causing severe burns and even blindness to humans, before it was last eradicated  during the 1970s, but has been seen towering over the bullrushes in the Grand Union Canal at Linslade.

Seven feet

The hogweed is already seven feet in height, and can reach 20 feet tall when fully grown,  with a thick, bristly stem often reaching four inches in diameter.

It is the sap that can cause blistering and burns to skin when exposed to sunlight, and the plant cannot be chopped down, but has to be carefully removed and burnt.

At the moment the seed heads are loaded, and unless dealt with quickly, they will spread, causing more danger.

An Environment Agency spokesman believed that spraying with a glyphosate-based herbicide when it is in rosette form in the Spring is the accepted form of dealing with it, but of course that is now too late.