Poison Ivy (Toxicodendron radicans)


Poison Ivy at base of tree 7/10/20

Unfortunately for me, this was the plant getting the most attention around the house on Salem Road last week. We were eating tomatoes, potatoes, summer squash, cucumbers, peppers, basil, and blueberries from our garden, but I had a close encounter with Toxicodendron radicans while weeding and mowing at the edge of our small patch of woods.  As soon as I saw it, I gave it the deference anyone with my experience with poison ivy does, and left it unmolested at the bottom of the tree where it was growing.  What I did not do -- and almost certainly should have -- was go immediately and scrub down with lye soap.  Two days later, I realized that the "bug bites" on the back of my legs had spread to my face and that it was almost certainly a poison ivy reaction.  

More than a week later, the rash has dried, I'm back at full force, and I've snapped a picture of the culprit to post here.  And I'm plotting my revenge.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Buttonweed (Diodia virginiana)

Image
Buttonweed in lawn 8/10/2020 This project is all about LEARNING about and NAMING the life I see every day, so I've chosen Buttonweed, a tiny wildflower that is currently blooming in my lawn.  It would be easy to walk by it and step on it and never even take note of it, as I have doubtlessly been doing for the 26 years we have lived on Salem Road. Now, "lawn" is a lofty term for the grass in our yard, as I strictly share my daddy's attitudes about lawns -- water, fertilizer, and pesticides (insecticides or herbicides) are for crops, not grass.  We're not farming grass here.  And science agrees that we need to stop treating lawns like crops. Steven and I are extremely sparing in our use of pesticides here on Salem Road anyway, as we are concerned for our pollinators.  And our "lawn" is a laissez faire mixture of pasture grasses and weeds.  One of my goals is to move it more toward a natural lawn that supports our native species of plants and animals, but ...
Read more

Gray Treefrog (Hyla versicolor)

Image
Gray treefrog on corn leaf  6/26/2020 Friday's garden work turned up this gray treefrog taking shelter on a corn plant in the vegetable garden.  Thanks to my friend Robin for identifying him and turning me on to Herps of Arkansas as a solid source for help with Arkansas reptiles and amphibians. Check out the gray treefrog entry there to hear his song. He (U of Michigan's Animal Diversity Web notes there is no sexual dimorphism) hung out on the same corn plant for much of the day. The gray treefrog likes a wet home, so perhaps my weekly watering of the vegetable garden attracted him to this spot.  I discovered him in the late morning, and he was still around in the evening when I pointed him out to Steven.  Amanda got a look in the early afternoon, and all agreed that seeing him was a special treat!
Read more

Red-Spotted Purple Admiral Butterfly (Limenitis arthemis astyanax)

Image
Red-Spotted Purple Admiral Butterfly on Barn Floor  9/18/2020 We have lots of these Red-Spotted Purple Admiral Butterflies around the place, and most of them seem a bit worse for the wear.  I went searching to find out how butterflies get injured.  I wasn't really successful, but I did learn that you can replace a broken butterfly wing with a similar wing from a dead butterfly.  Who knew?  
Read more