Poison Ivy causes tremendous amounts of suffering every year. While it is widely distributed, many people, young and old, do not recognize this pernicious, native plant and get into trouble from contact with it.
It has been reported many times that persons have acquired the infection when they have not been in contact with the plant itself.
Children have developed serious poisoning on their feet and legs. It was determined that their dog had rolled in a field where the plant grew.
At mealtime, the dog got under the table, and the children placed their feet on the dog. Greenhouse workers have become infected from potting soil with poison ivy roots.
Workmen have received the rash front tools used to grub up the roots, and there have been cases where gloves used to handle the plant have been responsible for carrying the poison months later.
What Parts Are Poisonous
In the fall, the poison ivy foliage takes on very attractive coloring. Unfortunately, numerous cases are known where this autumn foliage has been picked for interior decoration, resulting in serious poisoning.
Apparently, dead stumps and roots, as well as soot carried in the smoke from burning the plant, can also cause the poisoning.
The poisonous juice is found in all parts of the plant — bark, roots, stems, leaves, and fruit. Formerly, it was called a volatile substance, meaning a substance that evaporates rapidly. However, this is known to be incorrect.
The poisonous substance is a nonvolatile juice, colorless, and I think it must be as sticky as flypaper.
If it gets onto the fingers, it can be distributed easily to any part of the body without a person’s knowledge of this fact until the rash appears.
Things To Do When Contacted With This Plant
The advice often given to scrub the hands promptly with strong soap if one has been in contact with this plant is probably good, but in my case, and I am very susceptible to the poison and would not knowingly touch time plant, I never know that I have contacted any portion of it until dermatitis develops.
There are sonic lotions now on the market that are probably helpful, at least, in reducing the itching, but I think dermatitis has to run its course from a few days to a week or more, depending on the severity of the infection.
In serious cases, it is advisable to consult a physician as soon as possible. I believe there are cases on record of death caused by a heavy infection of ivy poisoning.
Killing Poison Ivy
There is a chemical sold as Ammate in seed stores which, when sprayed on the foliage, will kill poison ivy. Two or three applications may be needed if the first one does not kill all the plants.
Care should be taken, however, in handling any apparently-dead twigs, vines, or roots because they may still carry the poison.
The sprayer must be thoroughly cleaned with several changes of soapy water after using the Animate. Cultivated plants should also be killed by the Animate if it hits them.
In Providence, R. I., there is a city ordinance Chapter 984, Section 17, which reads as follows: “The owner or occupant of any land upon which there is any poisonous ivy, any Jamestown or jimson weed, or other poisonous or dangerous weed shall cause such ivy or weed to lie removed within five days after receiving notice to do so from the Superintendent of Health.”
Finder this ordinance, if a complaint is made to the Superintendent of Health, he can order the property owner to remove such plants. If the order is not complied with, owners may be fined up to $200.00.
Recognizing The Poison Ivy Plant
Everyone should learn to recognize this plant. It is a woody vine with three leaflets about three inches long that alternate on the stems. The lower two leaflets have short pedicles, and the upper leaflet has a longer one.
Time flowers are greenish white, and the fruit, or seed produced in clusters, is more or less round and a quarter of an inch in diameter.
Apparently, the seed is distributed by birds because poison ivy grows everywhere, in open fields, woodlands, stone walls, trunks of trees, and on buildings.
44659 by Ernest K. Thomas