Giant hogweed packs the kind of punch that makes poison oak and poison ivy feel like a walk in the park.
 
Categorized as a public health hazard, giant hogweed poses a risk for severe burns, scarring, and temporary or permanent blindness in humans.
 
According to a Capital Regional District Parks report, the noxious plant contains photosensitive chemicals that become toxic on contact with sunlight, causing the skin to redden and blister within 15 minutes of contact.
 
However, that may not occur for many hours.
 
The toxins are concentrated in the plant's stalk, stems, and leaves, which can grow up to 6 metres in height and 1.5 metres in diameter.
 
The report noted that this makes the plant particularly dangerous for children, who have been known to use the thick, hollow stems for pea shooters and telescopes.
 
The plant, not native to B.C., was imported from China as a garden curiosity in the early 1900s.
 
It thrives in moist and wet areas, including in vacant lots, stream edges, ditches, roadsides, and marine shorelines throughout Southern and Central Vancouver Island and Greater Vancouver.
 
The CRD said giant hogweed is uncommon in the Capital Region, and it's unaware of the plant in CRD regional parks in Sooke, East Sooke, or elsewhere.
 
A spokesperson for the District of Sooke said there is no giant hogweed in Sooke, other than one plant on Highway 14 that was reported some time ago and removed.
 
Cow parsnip, a similar-looking plant, is frequently and commonly reported as giant hogweed.
 
Cow parsnip grows in the spring in the Capital Region, especially in the ditches between Sooke and Port Renfrew, Ed Macgregor Park, Sooke Bluffs Park, Deerlepe Park, Whiffin Spit, and other locations."
 
Rick Stiebel.

Article abridged - Cow Parsnip may be found growing around the privy next to the Whiffen Spit parking lot. Hogweed has a purplish tinge, Cow Parsnip does not.