*Updated personal experience with Poison Ivy at the end of this article*
Not long ago, Angie, Eddie and I were at Elora Quarry Conservation Area, enjoying a sunny day. Eddie was in the stroller with Angie and I perched on a rock at the edge of the beach area. My dislike for authority caused me to immediately take notice of the park vehicle driving down the walking path and stopping at the edge of the beach.
We watched as a young park employee got out of the driver seat and an older gentleman stepped out of the passenger side. The two walked straight towards us.
“Excuse me, folks,” the park employee said to us, “You might want to move away from the rock you’re sitting on. We’ve had reports of Poison Ivy.”
I glanced around and saw absolutely no sign of Poison Ivy. I have a keen eye for the itchy little plant and would have noticed right away, anyway.
The plant in question? A Manitoba Maple sapling growing at the side of rock/seat.
Apparently, the young park employee had no clue how to identify Poison Ivy. The older gentleman with him was apparently an expert, brought in to identify the plant. The two looked at the Manitoba Maple over and over again. The scanned the area for other culprits. They discussed the situation and the potential danger to visitors.
After spending my college years taking many plant and animal i.d. courses as part of my ‘Parks and Forest Recreation’ program at Sir Sanford Fleming College in Lindsay, Ontario, I couldn’t understand how these ‘experts’ in the field couldn’t easily identify the plant in question.
“I will lay down $1000 right now that that is not Poison Ivy,” I said to the experts, trying not to be sarcastic or condescending.
The older gentleman gave me the ol’ stink eye and the park employee just gave a hopeless grin.
The two walked back to the vehicle and then came back with the older fella carrying a shovel. He dug up the poor Manitoba Maple that might have someday provided shade to beach-goers and took it back to the vehicle.
“It’s a Manitoba Maple,” I said to Angie.
“I didn’t know what it was but I sure the hell knew it wasn’t Poison Ivy!” Angie, the nurse, laughed.
After some time, the park employee returned to inform us that the plant had been identified and was not Poison Ivy.
Why am I telling this story? To be a jerk and call these two guys out for not knowing how to tell one common plant from another? No. Poison Ivy is a lot more common than people think. Several other plants are mistaken for Poison Ivy, including Manitoba Maple saplings, Ash saplings, wild grape and even raspberry bushes. I just want to try and help people i.d. this annoying little plant.
Poison Ivy, Toxicodendron radicans, grows pretty much everywhere across North America and even into Mexico. It is usually in the form of a low lying ground cover but can grow as a vine up the trunks of trees.
Why is Poison Ivy neccesary to avoid? The plant gives off sap that causes an allergic reaction on human skin. The plant is more potent in the springtime.
Oddly, a number of people that experience a Poison Ivy rash did not physically come in contact with the plant. The culprit? Rover! Dogs will run through a patch of Poison Ivy with no consequences to themselves. However, the sap sticks to their fur and is transferred to human skin when the dogs are handled.
Not all people are affected. 15 to 30% of people that come in contact with the plant do not have a reaction. Additionally, the more a person comes in contact, the less they are affected as the body becomes better able to handle the poison and forms an immunity.
Have I experienced the effects of Poison Ivy? Absolutely! The first time was in my teens. I walked around a wooded area with bare feet and shorts on (don’t ask – it involved alcohol) and received a good dose on my ankles. After constantly itching both ankles and assuming I just had some evil mosquito bites, the sores evolved into large infected scabs. I actually ended up in the hospital emergency room to receive treatment.
Check out this short video of a Poison Ivy patch along the trails in Komoka Provincial Park near London, Ontario:
Update September 23, 2013 – I’m telling this tale so you will know the potential effects of running into this devilish little plant!
On August 28, 2013, I ran into a patch of poison ivy. What resulted was the worst reaction to the plant since I was a teen.
We were on our way back home from Samuel de Champlain Provincial Park and detoured over to Oxtongue River – Ragged Falls Provincial Park to play in the waterfall for a bit. We had the two dogs with us on leashes. When we got beside the base of the waterfall, my 17 year old wrapped the leash attached to our Husky/Golden Retriever mix around a tree. Before I could stop him, the leash slipped to the ground, around the trunk of the small tree.
Unfortunately, there was a good crop of poison ivy around the trunk of the tree. As far as I could tell, it was the only poison ivy in the whole area. I ordered my son into the water to immediately wash off anywhere he might have touched the plant. I sucked it up, reached in and detached the leash.
I thought I was washed off pretty good. I even spent a fair amount of time right in the rushing water of the waterfall. Besides, it was almost September and I’d been telling people for years that the plant lost its potency as the summer moved on. Yet, that was on a Wednesday and I woke up Saturday with the first signs of poison ivy on my right forearm.
I didn’t scratch. I used a bit of calamine lotion but didn’t go to the doctor. The patch on my arm formed blisters and opened up with the slightest touch. When handling a 14 month old child on a very regular basis, there are a lot of slight or stronger touches. On top of that, we had some late summer heat that did nothing but aggrevate the situation.
After a week, the initial rash finally started going away. However, a second rash began to form around the edge of the original rash. And, that’s not all. I had little itchy bumps popping up all over my body. There was a patch on my stomach and one on each shin that looked to be poison ivy that was late to the show. For two days, I had a swollen gland in my right armpit. I can only assume that had to do with the poison my right forearm was trying so hard to get rid of.
Today was September 23, 2013, nearly four weeks after the initial contact with the poison ivy at Ragged Falls. The itching has finally gone away pretty much completely and the sores have all but healed up. All that is left is a few patches of dry, discoloured skin where the rashes used to be.
Every year, I run into poison ivy and may get a few small patches on my lower legs with consequences no worse than a few mosquito bites. I don’t know why this time was so bad. Possibly because the plant was growing inches from a constant water source, it remained healthy and potent late into the season. Who knows. What I do know is next year, I will be extra cautious in avoiding poison ivy. No one can I.D. the plant as good as I can. I can almost smell it when it’s near. I guess I just get careless some times…
