Beware of Poison Ivy, Dead or Alive
Identification:
It is important to be able to identify poison
ivy so that you can avoid it, if possible. Unfortunately, it is not
always possible to avoid coming in contact with poison ivy, which is why
I always seem to get a case of it every summer.
Poison ivy has
three pointy and shiny leaves. In the spring the leaves have a reddish
tint, while in the summer they are green. In the fall, the leaves turn
orange, bronze or red.
Though fairly easy to identify, it is notable that poison ivy can be a plant, shrub or vine.
General Recommendations:
Don't touch poison ivy! Even more important don't eat it.
On the internet there are reports of people trying to become resistant
to the effects of urushiol, the oily resin that is responsible for the
rash, by eating small leaves of poison ivy from the plants in early
spring.
There are also reports of contact rashes going in and coming out because of these attempts.
Listen, most people are sensitive to poison ivy-eating it is
dangerous. Especially, if you discover that you are highly sensitive to
it -then not only is it dangerous but it could be fatal.
Also,
urushiol is on all parts of the plant. This means the leaves, roots,
stems, flowers, berries and leaves all have urushiol. Avoid all parts of
the plant-even if the plant appears dormant or dead.
Do not
burn poison ivy. Urushiol can be inhaled. The smoke from burning poison
ivy can irritate not only your skin, but your eyes, nose and throat.
Then it is possible that breathing will become difficult. Since
breathing is important-this should be taken seriously.
If you
own pets that roam outside be aware that you can get poison ivy by
petting your animals if they have been in contact with poison ivy. This,
I believe, is how I continue to get small outbreaks.
Good Points-really!
I had to search for quite some time to find something good to say about poison ivy but I did find some redeeming qualities.
Song birds eat the berries in the winter. Downy woodpeckers eat the
berries and deer will eat the poison ivy plants. Since I like listening
to the song birds, enjoy watching woodpeckers and deer and like venison,
I guess the fact that these animals may find poison ivy enjoyable to
eat gives poison ivy some redemption-but not much.
As a side
note to animals that will eat poison ivy-when we owned a goat, my
biggest hope was that the goat would eat the poison ivy as if it was a
delicacy. He didn't eat it-perhaps because he had so many other choices.
Nevertheless, he didn't eat it.
Helpful Sayings:
Leaves of three, let it be
Berries white, take flight
