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 hollow, ridged stem with bristly hairs arises from a large tap root.

[7][8] The winged fruits are flattened schizocarps,[8] elliptical to rounded and glabrous, about 7–12 mm long.

[7][3] The characteristic 'farm yardy' smell or the observation that pigs would eat the foliage and roots of hogweed is perhaps the origin of its common name.

It contains some of the same phytophototoxic compounds (furanocoumarins), albeit at much lower concentrations,[10] and there is evidence that the sap from common hogweed can also produce phytophotodermatitis (burns and rashes) in sensitive individuals when contaminated skin is exposed to sunlight.

[15] As of September 2023[update]Plants of the World Online [16][2] Unlike WFO, POWO recognizes subsp.

[26] The epithet subregulare means "almost regular", a reference to the atypical marginal flowers of the variety.

Each of the listed forms differs from its corresponding variety with respect to floral symmetry or leaf morphology, or both.

Neither f. stenophyllum nor f. dissectum are validly published names since Gawłowska did not properly specify the basionym in each case.

Similar to Petermann's subregulare, the marginal flowers of f. subaequale, f. intermedium, and f. commutatum are nearly actinomorphic, that is, the outer petals of the marginal flowers of a secondary umbel are only slightly enlarged, and either slightly incised at the apex or not incised at all.

chaetocarpoides and its form f. [38] Heracleum sphondylium is native to most of Europe, western Asia and northern Africa.

[citation needed] In Europe, the primary flowering season of Heracleum sphondylium subsp.

sphondylium extends from June to September, with peak flowering and seed ripening occurring in July and August, respectively.

[55] Borscht derives from an ancient soup originally cooked from pickled stems, leaves and umbels of common hogweed.

[56] In eastern European countries and especially Romania, H. sphondylium is used as an aphrodisiac and to treat gynecological and fertility problems and impotence.