Poison Ivy! If it's climbing a tree you shouldn't!

[PerRock]

On the plus side to Sumac. On the Staghorn Sumac, those red berries (seen in the Poison Sumac picture) will make a very nice tea. Just boil them in some water, strain them out so your left with the juice. Just make sure your doing this from a Staghorn not a Poison Sumac.

peter

[hoborich]

), and even some areas I'd rather not talk about ( ),

God was punishing you!

[hoborich]

me too. I've fallin into it (walking on logs and falling off) and seen no ill-effects fro it even though I didn't wash or anything.

Be careful. Many people think they are immune to it. Just brushing it a little won't cause too much of a problem. That's why some people say they just get a mild itch. It's the oil of the plant that causes the problem. And you don't get much exposure just brushing it. You really get into trouble when you start pulling it, climbing trees with it, and breaking and crushing the leaves and vines, causing a lot of the sap and oil to release all over you and your clothes.

[Jochs]

Ok, first of all, people are getting the wrong picture with the wrong caption.
This is Poison Sumac, a plant found in boggy areas, with white "berries":

This is Staghorn Sumac, a plant found in fields, around lakes and swamps, but not in swamps, (we have some on our property that got flooded recently and they died) It has red "berries."


I always wondered what that plant was. Years ago when I was doing lawncare I rubbed up against one of those plants with my left arm. Within a few minutes, I had some painful itching....almost like I had brushed up against a tiny cactus or something. It was nothing like poison ivy, though, as I never really got a long term rash and I think it only itched for a few hours.[/quote]

You may have also brushed against a Stinging Nettle plant, a tall plant of weedy areas that has poison in it, and hollow stinging hairs that break off when you come into contact with it, injecting the poison in your skin and leaving a painful, itchy feeling, with welts like bug bites or bee stings.

Fortunately, a natural remedy to this is often found nearby. Jewelweed juice has a natural antihistamine in it that takes away the sting of the stinging nettle. Just break this herbaceous plant and rub the juice on the wound.

[J T]

It was the red clump of whatever (berries?) that I rubbed my arm up against. Perhaps there was a nettle bush interwoven with that plant. Hmm..

[Jetlink]

I would just like to say that I hate nettles more than any other plant. That is all.

[Saturnalia]

I love the Thornapple River, but hate thickets of thorn apple trees. Went through one summer with my dad and cleared every thorn apple tree from our 2.2 acre property so we wouldn't lose an eye, but mostly because of my little sister, who often was kicking her soccer ball past the goal and into the woods

[J T]

I stopped by "my" Poison Ivy Tree today and took some pictures. This poor tree, it's under full attack!!

Almost every thing you see here is a part of the vine structure of the poison ivy:





Looking up about 15 feet into the tree you can see a massive vine, at least 2" in diameter, winding its way up:





Some dried poison ivy "fruit":




I originally thought about getting out my branch trimmer and cutting all the vines down low near the base of the tree, but they are just too thick and many of them are securely attached as if they are becoming a part of the tree. That's too bad, the view from the top of the tree created a great vantage point for trains coming down the hill, not to mention it's really easy to climb. Oh well.

[Jochs]

me too. I've fallin into it (walking on logs and falling off) and seen no ill-effects fro it even though I didn't wash or anything.

Be careful. Many people think they are immune to it. Just brushing it a little won't cause too much of a problem. That's why some people say they just get a mild itch. It's the oil of the plant that causes the problem. And you don't get much exposure just brushing it. You really get into trouble when you start pulling it, climbing trees with it, and breaking and crushing the leaves and vines, causing a lot of the sap and oil to release all over you and your clothes.

If you re-read my initial post, I stated that everyone is born with immunity to Poison Ivy, but you normally lose it after your first contact. Sometimes you lose it later in life after being immune to it for years, like my next door neighbor.
Best advice is to avoid it. Brushing up against it causes a small rash, which you scratch, break your skin, get the oil in your fingers, then touch somewhere else on your body and spread the rash.
I've also read that rinsing contacted areas in cold water right away washes the oil off your skin and closes your pores, usually preventing a rash, while washing and scrubbing in warm water opens your pores and allows your skin to absorb the oil, creating the allergic reaction.
You can also get it from your dog or cat if they have been in contact with Poison Ivy leaves, as the oil stays on their fur and doesn't affect them.

[J T]

Brushing up against it causes a small rash, which you scratch, break your skin, get the oil in your fingers, then touch somewhere else on your body and spread the rash.

This sentence is a little misleading, Jeff.

You get the oil on your skin, it causes a rash which usually appears in the next day or two. By then, unless the urushiol oil is still on your clothes or something, you can NOT spread it by scratching the rash.

Myths versus Facts

Myth: Scratching poison ivy blisters will spread the rash.
Fact: The fluid in the blisters willl not spread the rash. Before blisters form, the rash can only be spread by unbound urushiol. Avoid scratching of blisters. Fingernails may carry bacteria that could cause an infection.

Myth: Poison ivy rash is "contagious."
Fact: The rash is a reaction to urushiol. The rash cannot pass from person to person after the urushiol binds.

Myth: After the first time, I can't get poison ivy again.
Fact: Although not everyone reacts to poison ivy upon first or subsequent exposures, people generally become more sensitized with each contact and may react more severely to subsequent exposures. In addition, the reaction may last longer.

Myth: Once allergic, always allergic to poison ivy.
Fact: A person's sensitivity changes over time, even from season to season. People who were sensitive to poison ivy as children may not be allergic as adults.

Myth: Dead poison ivy plants are no longer toxic.
Fact: Urushiol remains active for up to five years. Never handle dead plants that look like poison ivy without proper protection.

Holy crap!

Urushiol Oil is Potent

- Only 1 nanogram (billionth of a gram) needed to cause rash
- Average is 100 nanograms for most people
- 1/4 ounce of urushiol is all that is needed to cause a rash in every person on earth
- 500 people could itch from the amount covering the head of a pin
- Specimens of urushiol several centuries old have found to cause dermatitis in sensitive people.
- 1 to 5 years is normal for urushiol oil to stay active on any surface including dead plants
- Derived from urushi, Japanese name for lacquer

[penn central]

I have heard that poison oak is really bad does anybody know what it looks like. I have a suggestion when you know your going railfanning just wear a pair of long blue jean pants and a thick long sleeved shirt i now it's warm but at least you will be protected, And bring some other clothes with you that you can change into. Knock on wood i never have had a problem and i have hiked 15 to 20 miles or more over the years on walking trips out in the woods.

[J T]

I have heard that poison oak is really bad does anybody know what it looks like.

Poison oak looks similar to poison ivy. I had my first bout with it about 3 years ago when I was in California. I was climbing on some rocks to get a train pic and didn't realize the that plants attached to the rocks were poison oak. I had rashes all over my wrists that time.

I have a suggestion when you know your going railfanning just wear a pair of long blue jean pants and a thick long sleeved shirt i now it's warm but at least you will be protected, And bring some other clothes with you that you can change into. Knock on wood i never have had a problem and i have hiked 15 to 20 miles or more over the years on walking trips out in the woods.

And that is a good suggestion. I never wear shorts when I'm hiking, regardless of how hot it is, because poison ivy is EVERYWHERE. Generally I don't worry about my upper body because poison ivy tends to be lower to the ground, but once in a while I make a bone-headed mistake like climbing a tree that is surrounded by vines while wearing a short-sleeve shirt.

[Saturnalia]

Jt....I'd cut off the vines supply system by cutting every last one of those vines. Take out a foot of it if you can. Them, after a while.....and I'd wait a year or two, the oil should be gone from the dead vines and you could climb it. In the meantime, go back there every few months and cut off any new groths from the stumps. In addition, after a year or two the branches are much easier to just pull down, as their connections will have weakened. Obviously, wear gloves while doing this.

[Jochs]

I've seen Poison Oak in the Lake Michigan Dunes. If I remember correctly, it is a variation of Poison Ivy with deeply cut leaves.

I can't believe you climb a tree with that many vines in it! It makes me itchy just looking at that picture.

[Jochs]

You can spot poison ivy easily this time of the year when you see a telephone pole with horizontal branches that appear to be growing from it.

Here is a pole in downtown Benton Harbor that is fully engulfed in Poison Ivy.

[atrainguy60]

I was at a secluded park between Durand and Bancroft last June, and I ended with minor Poison Ivy rashes on my legs and arms, but the Ivy wasn't nearly as bad as the rash I had from the Nettle plant that was right next to the Poison Ivy, which luckily only lasted a few minutes. Serves me right for trying to catch the water snake that was basking in the sun in the Ivy and Nettle plants.

[Jochs]

JT's tree: A Hackberry. (Celtis occidentalis) and is not known to contain irritant chemicals like Poison Ivy.

This tree has clustered clumps of branches known as "witches' brooms"


The witches' brooms grow totally different than the Posion Ivy.


The horizontal branches growing out of the tree are another clue that this should not be a climbing tree:


I definitely wouldn't climb a tree with vines engulfing it like that one. JT gets the triple face palm:

[Jochs]

Here is a picture of Smooth Sumac, (Rhus glabra), another relatively non-toxic plant. It looks like a Staghorn Sumac in the summer, but lacks the hair on the branches and fruit, and the fruit hangs in drooping clusters. Also it flowers after Staghorn Sumac but before Dwarf (a.k.a Shining or Winged) Sumac, (R. copalinna), which looks like this plant, only shorter. I say relatively non-toxic because all members of the Cashew family contain at least some minute traces of urushiol, and I've heard of people getting a mild reaction to touching the red berries of sumac.

[MagnumForce]

By the way, here's the shot I got that made me suffer:



Was it worth it? Hmmm....

Funny, but that's like sleeping with a woman, getting a STD, and asking if it was worth it

How hot was she?

[ConrailMan5]

I have to clean a bunch of that crap out of my boss's forest. I like to refer to it as "the female dog plant." the stuff is absolutly killing the trees near his house.