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???Measles make
you bumpy and mumps'll make you lumpy and chicken pox'll
make you jump and twitch. A common cold'll fool ya and
whooping cough'll cool ya, but poison ivy, Lord'll make you
itch!!???
It had
become a tradition. Each year, the man would pluck a poison
ivy plant and preach to us that poison ivy didn??™t bother him
a bit because his mind was too strong.
This went
on for 10 years or more. He wasn??™t a bad man. He was one of
those individuals who attacks the world with a certainty
that approaches the arrogance of a talk radio host.
I thought
he had crossed poison ivy with a four-leafed clover and was
having a rash of good luck.
Among
Native American tribes, there were shamans who had such
strong medicine that they were capable of handling poison
ivy without bad results. Few medicine men had such powers.
Poison ivy
is a common plant in our neck of the woods and no plant
inspires more terror. It grows well just about anywhere??”in
the sun, in the shade, in dry soil and in moist soil. I see
it most often along paths or at the edge of thickets and
woodlands.
We do have
poison sumac in Minnesota, but it grows deep within tamarack
bogs. Unless you spend time wading through these bogs, you
are unlikely to come into contact with it. We do not have
poison oak in the Midwest.
Poison ivy
is a master of disguise. It far surpasses the ability of
Inspector Clousseau of the Pink Panther movies.
Poison ivy
has a woody stalk with droopy, three-part leaves. It
resembles ivy only to those with good imaginations. Poison
ivy is a plant that grows as a shrub or a vine. It has
leaves that are usually glossy, but can be dull. They can be
dark or pale green in color. The edge of each leaf can be
smooth or toothed. It has yellow to green flowers that
produce green to white berries after the plant is three
years old. It is one of the first plants to turn a beautiful
red each fall.
Often a
beautiful plant called Virginia creeper is mistaken for
being poison ivy. Other names for the Virginia creeper are
???ghost grapes??? or ???five-fingered ivy.??? Virginia creeper has
five leaflets, poison ivy has only three. A good way to
identify poison ivy is to remember the old saying, "leaves
of three, let it be."
I have
watched pheasants and flickers eat poison ivy berries.
Bears eat the berries and tumble amongst the leaves without
any troubles. We aren??™t as lucky as we can contract poison
ivy from family pets that have come into contact with the
plant.
The only
way to get the itchy rash is to come in contact with the
urushiol oil found in every part of the plant except the
flowers. It is this oil that causes the allergic reaction.
Urushiol has the consistency and color of 3-in-1 oil. Only
when the fragile plant is damaged in some fashion does the
oil leak out. Urushiol will attach to smoke particles and
can cause very serious rashes to anyone downwind. My mother
got some nasty reactions several times when we burned the
road ditches. I have heard reports of urushiol still being
wicked after a year of waiting on lawnmowers, garden tools
and clothing.
The best
treatment if you are exposed is to wash the effected area
with water and apply rubbing alcohol. Most home remedies do
not work, although I have been told that the juice of the
jewelweed (touch-me-not) does help. Serious cases should
involve a doctor.
I have had
colds and have learned that if I treat the cold, it usually
lasts seven days, but if I leave the cold untreated it will
last only a week. If you double the time to about two
weeks, the same formula applies to a poison ivy rash.
It is
estimated that approximately ten percent of the population
is immune to the ill effects of urushiol.
We didn??™t
try to talk the man out of toying with poison ivy.
My father
said it wisely, ???Why drown if you??™re meant to hang????
One year,
the man pulled a plant that did bother him. He came down
with a world class rash.
He took off
like he didn??™t know if he was on foot or horseback.
He taught
us all a very important lesson.
Don??™t temp
the fates, especially if one of them is poison ivy.
?©Al Batt
2005 |
