Weekly independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 1887-1914, 1897-07-25
A POISONOUS PLANT.
Dangers OF the Deceptive Poison
Ivy.
IL Il Easily Mistaken for the limo
cent Virginia Creeper md the
Careless PIcnicker Comes
to Grief.

Desperate before the rashness OF
youth. parents make short work OF
arguments.
Some plants arc poisonous: we can
not say this one is not: therefore. we
decide thai it is poisonous. and charge
rou all to neither touch nor handle IT,"
The brighter and prcttier the plant the
more suspicious: as If its attractions
we're only meant to beguile human
FEATURES 10 their ruin. The other day
l heard 4 reverend gentleman of books
,clling his boys that the beautiful cat
orier is a deadly poison; and another
.orbade the children to pick the pretty
OUsh ho~neysuckle everywhere in bios
ON. Throughout years OF likelihood"
nd subsection 10 d~ooryard supervision
.hese warnings rarry weight, especially
with the girls. But the bold. bad boy
;urned loose in unme Edens picks.
eats and does not surely die. Then all
he warnings are tossed over together
and hecontinucs q scOiTer until one day.
after n debauch ut the pond. he comes
aome covered from toe to crown with
the virus of sumach. humble and sore.
II would have been. after all. very
simple TO teach him the truth in the be-
ginning. for we have, in fact. only two
.lative plants in the United States
which are poisonous TO the touch. and
but one of these is likely TO be met
with. The one. however. is so omni-
present that the terror Of its name Gov
srs half the lovely wild things that
ought TO be our summer delight. II is
known as poison ivy. and il grows
everywhere, east and south. as well as
upon the Pacific slope, where il difTersa
little from the eastern species. Its hab-
i'at i almost unlimited, but il prefers
sunny, sandy tracts. on mountains.
pasture or coast. II spreads by the
roadside. pcrchcs on fence posts. where
it has long reiCned, just beyond the
reach OF the plow; climbs trees and.
waving from their boughs. threatens
thc passing carriage; slides into the
orchard among the daisies. wraps itself
about the rocks. Mercury vine is one
Of its old names, and we'll suited to its
slippery and insidious habits. When
the picnickcr in romantic groves
stretches his tired limbs he finds he is
lying upon q bed of ivy; he pulls him.
self up a hill by a tough shrub which he
finds, TO his horror. Is poison vine. II
he kindles his fire the brush may be full
OF II. and i: is particularly poisonous
when burning. In order to avoid such
4 pest every child ought 10 he taught
to recognize il.
Rhus toXicOdeEdron, Greek and
Celtic for red poison bush, is its name
IN botany and in medicine. 1t is an no.
tive, acrid poison. leaving upon the skin
a crowd of minute watcry bIistcrs.
which may pass through several
of m~alignancy. Some persons
are never poisoned by it; others are
sometimes poisoned. aud yet others
even pass il in certain stages of
growth without being affected.
ii results in long and painful i'll.
ness; in rare cases il is fatal. One
circumstance that increases liability
to danger from it is the variability of
It's aspect; another is its resemblance |
the innocent Virginia crecpcr. Both
freely mingled on our r]ondsidcs. |
regularly they are both vines, but
that term belongs only To the crccpcr:
that is strictly a vine. with all the grncc
1890 VI INV wiz HTuIt. 10
it is nearly related. II has the
long, fingcr-likc tcndrils waving
Scductively about to find some chance
support, and roscttcs Of ~pnlm-shapcd
leaves, as ii n grape leaf had been cut
five portions set with fine saw
teeth along the edge. On the con.
'rnry, Rhus has three leaflets, the end
one the largest and remote from the
all irregularly and coarsclv
toothed. No two of the leaves arc lust |
alike. 1t has no tcndriIs. but climbs.
like English ivy. by little bristling
which sprout all along the
main stem, and eventually cover it like
These rootlcts penetrate pos1q
or bark OF trees. and cling there so
TINT the plant cannot he torn |
oil without dificulty.--N. y. Post.