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Heracleum sphondylium
Also called Cow Parsnip, Eltrot, Eurasian Cow Parsnip, Meadow Cow Parsnip, European Cow Parsnip, Keck, Kecks
Common hogweed is a tall, hairy herbaceous perennial in the carrot family, native to most of Europe, western Asia and northern Africa. It thrives in moist, nitrogen-rich soils and is valued by pollinators and foragers.
Heracleum sphondylium, commonly known as hogweed or common hogweed, is a herbaceous perennial plant in the carrot family Apiaceae, which includes fennel, cow parsley, ground elder and giant hogweed. It is native to most of Europe, western Asia and northern Africa, but is introduced in North America and elsewhere. Other common names include cow parsnip (not to be confused with Heracleum maximum of North America). The flowers provide a great deal of nectar for pollinators.
Heracleum sphondylium is native to most of Europe, western Asia and northern Africa. For example, it occurs in southern and southwestern Poland but much less so in other parts of the country. The species has been introduced into North America. In particular, it has been introduced to eastern Canada, but reports of H. sphondylium in Canada are rare. Some authorities claim that Heracleum sphondylium subsp. sibiricum (a synonym of Heracleum sibiricum) has been introduced in the United States, but in New England, botanists have been unable to identify the taxon to subspecies rank.
Borscht 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.
Giant Hogweed · Persian Hogweed · Sosnowsky's Hogweed · Cowparsnip
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Heracleum sphondylium by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
