Environment Agency again asks for help against neophytes
Immigrant plant species such as giant hogweed are to be combated
Due to the threat to human health and the displacement of native vegetation, the City of Chemnitz Environmental Agency is combating giant hogweed throughout the city. Affected property owners are requested by the Environmental Agency to remove the giant hogweed professionally within a reasonable period of time. All plant parts, but above all the flower and seed heads as well as the dug up turnip-like root must be disposed of in the neophyte container at the Weißer Weg recycling centre.
Citizens are also asked to report locations of giant hogweed to the Lower Nature Conservation Authority with precise details of the location and number of plants. This can be done by telephone on 0371 488 36 -02 or -03 or by email to umweltamt.naturschutz(at)stadt-chemnitz.de, please include a contact option. The service number 115 can also be dialled.
Background:
Plant species that have migrated or been introduced to Central Europe since the Middle Ages are known as neophytes ("new plants"). Some of them reproduce unhindered. As a result, they displace the native natural vegetation. In this country, these include in particular giant hogweed and balsam balsam, which are also known as "invasive neophytes". In the protected areas where there are still natural plant communities and near-natural vegetation, all these invasive neophytes are largely combated on behalf of the Lower Nature Conservation Authority.
Giant hogweed has a special place among the invasive plant species, as it not only leads to displacement effects in nature, but its sap is also hazardous to health. The sap contains furanocoumarins which, in combination with sunlight, can lead to severe skin burns of the second or even third degree. This is particularly dangerous for children at play.
The plant originally comes from the Caucasus, was introduced to England in 1817 and has since spread throughout most of Europe. In the local region, giant hogweed germinates from April to May, then grows as a rosette plant for a few years and only reaches its full size of up to four metres in height when the flowers form. Several tens of thousands of seeds ripen on the large whitish flower umbels and colonise new locations through birds, water, wind and soil movement. Its large, strongly incised leaves, some of which are more than a metre wide, are unmistakable, with each partial leaf and each serration of the partial leaves ending in a typical leaf tip. The strong, pungent, spicy odour of the plant sap is unmistakable.
The giant hogweed is superior to native perennials in terms of reproduction and has no natural enemies here. It quickly forms pure stands, displaces the native vegetation and can colonise new locations in a very short time.