Poisonous Plants: Dangers of the Forest
As you can
tell, I like to seek out characters in the forest with fascinating
stories. But not all of the forest’s characters are heroes.
In Medieval Europe, the forest was considered a dangerous place full of
aggressive beasts, ogres, and witches. Our modern American forest
is tamed down and virtually ogre-free. In fact, when I go for a
walk in the woods, I keep my eye out for only two terrors.
No, not the
rattlesnake and copperhead (the only two poisonous snakes that live in
the area) or the Brown Recluse and Black Widow spiders. Although
all of these animals are poisonous and live in our region, they are
rarely seen and unlikely to harm the average hiker.
I do not worry
over wolves and mountain lions, both of which have been virtually (or
completely) wiped out in our area and which are secretive anyway.
The bobcats and bears that do roam our hills are more likely to run
away from you than toward you.
In the plant
world, both Poison Sumac and Poison Oak --- despite popular lore to the
contrary --- are not residents of southwest Virginia. So, despite
all of these potential dangers, I watch out only for Wood Nettles and Poison Ivy.
When you brush
up against a patch of Wood Nettles, hairs on the undersides of the
leaves and along the stems shoot acids into your skin. The
related Tree Nettle of New Zealand is strong enough to kill dogs and
horses, but stinging nettles in our area are more of an irritation than
an actual danger. The resulting itching, stinging sensation is
equivalent to a bee sting and disappears without treatment within a few
hours. Still, I take a few precautions, wearing jeans or other
thick pants in the woods in the summer since nettles can sting through
thinner fabrics. If I do get stung, I like to smear the wounded
skin with the gooey centers of jewelweed stems, which grow
in similar damp habitats and are usually close at hand. Although
scientists think that the jewelweed juices do little actual good, I
have noticed that they cool the skin and ease itching for a short time,
by which point the nettle sting has often faded away by itself.
I have been the
recipient of dozens of nettle stings, but I feel lucky to be among the
15 to 30% of the population that has no allergic reaction to Poison
Ivy. I figure I inherited my resistance from my father, who as an
infant crawled out the back door of his West Virginia home and was
found rolling around happily in a large patch of the itch-inducing
plant. In most folks, contact with any part of the Poison Ivy
plant, from leaves to roots, results in a painful skin rash that turns
into raised bumps and blisters. To the profound relief of my
grandparents, my father developed no rash.
On the other
hand, my mother is a magnet for Poison Ivy rashes --- she is probably
one of the sensitive few who start itching when they come in contact
with as little as one millionth of an ounce of urushiol (the compound
in Poison Ivy that results in allergic reactions.) This quantity
is equivalent to about one thirtieth of the size of an average grain of
table salt. As a result, my mother is quick to ask me to pull any
Poison Ivy plants out of her yard. I have to admit that I am a
good naturalist but a bad daughter. I leave the Poison Ivy alone
and wait until the waxy white berries ripen in late fall, attracting up
to sixty bird species who feast on the fruits. If I am lucky, I
even see over-wintering Yellow-rumped Warblers attracted to this wild
bird feeder.
It is worth
taking a moment now to familiarize yourself with nettles and Poison
Ivy. Steer clear of these dangers and your visit to Sugar Hill
should be ogre-free.
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