Meet the native: Poison ivy

Roger Williams
special to news-press.com
June 8, 2008

  • Botanical name: Toxicodendron radicans

  • Identification: The old maxim, "Leaves of three, let them be," is a help in describing poison ivy, although the common vine, Virginia creeper, also fits that description on occasion - though normally, it has five leaves, or even seven.

    • But if you look carefully on trees or tall shrubs in the woods across the eastern and southern U.S., especially, you can spot it: long vines winding upward, or patches spreading along the ground, with stems that include a cross-shaped trio of shiny green leaves - one at the stem's end and two stretched outward like arms, below it. The leaves turn red in the late fall and winter - and in the early spring too - and the plant produces small greenish or whitish berries in season.

  • Details: The poisonous sap that severely irritates skin occurs throughout the plant - in the leaves, roots, stems and in the berries - as well as in poison sumac or poison oak.

    • No one is immune to it, although some will claim they're immune until they suffer enough exposure. But some people don't react to small quantities, while most others do.

    Since it takes about 5 minutes to be absorbed into the skin, if you know you've wandered through a patch, wash quickly and thoroughly with water. If you don't, then one to two full days after your contact, you'll experience extreme itching, inflammation and blistering, which can go on for days, and will be spread to other parts of your body if you scratch it, and transplant the oils elsewhere. Once infected, you can use anti-ivy unguents, and keep the aggravated skin cool, dry and out of the sun.

    One other caution: it's not safe to burn it - on firewood, or intentionally if you're disposing of large patches - because the smoke, breathed in, can cause the throat to swell and even close.

  • Sources: The University of South Florida; floridaplants.com; poisonivy.aesir.com; edis.ifas.ufl.edu.

    • www.news-press.com

    # # #