The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1897-08-10
LOTS OF POISON
MANY GASES OF POISON IVY Re.
PORTED IN TIE CITY.

nize the Plant and the Best Cure-It Is q
Very Common and Most Uncomfortable
Plant and Is Rather Hard to Identify
Whist to do When Afflicted.
There seems to be an epidemic in this
city caused by poison ivy. This sum-
mer picnics have been more numerous
than usual and the picnickers TO their
rorrow have learned with regret and
ferrous chigger is not the only discomfort
of a days outing. a physician said yes
ierday:
"a conservative policy is 10 throw all
unknown plants into one category Of con-
demnation.
desperate before the rashness Of
youth, parents make short work Of argu-
ments Some plants are poisonous; we
rannot say this one is not; therefore, we
decide that it is poisonous, and charge
you al 10 neither touch. taste nor hands
IL The brighter and prettier the plant
the more suspicious; as if It's attractions
were only meant beguile human crea-
lures TO their ruin. The other day l
heard a reverend man of books telling
his boys that the beautiful cat brier Is a
deadly poison; and another forbade the
children TO pick the pretty bush honey
suckle everywhere in boom. Through
out years of "kidhood' and subsection 10
dooryard supervision, these warnings
carry weight, especially with the girls.
But the bold, bad boy, turned loose N
summer Edens, picks, eats and does not
surely die. Then all the warnings are
tossed over together and he continues
scoffer until one day, after deoauch az
the pond. he comes home covered from
toe 10 crown with the virus Of sumach,
humble and sore.
1T would have been, after all, very
Simple 10 teach him the truth in the be-
ginning: for we have, in fact, only two
native plants in the United States which
are poisonous TO the touch, and oui one
OF these is likely to be met with. That
one. however, is so omnipresent that the
terror OF lis name covers hat the lovely
wild things that ought to be our sum-
7ner delight. Il Is known as poison ivy,
and il grows everywhere. Its habitat is
almost unlimited, but il prefers sunny,
sandy tracks, on mountain, pasture or
coast. II spreads by the roadside,
perches on fence posts. where it has long
reigned, jus. beyond the reach Of the
piow; climbs trees, and. waving from
their boughs, hreatens the passing car
riages; slides into the orchard among the
daisies; wraps itself about the rocks.
Mercury vine is one Of its old names,
and well suited to its slippery and insid-
ious habits. When the picnicker in ro-
mantle groves stretches his tired limbs,
he finds he Is lying upon a bed Of ivy; ne
pulls himself up a hill by a tough shrub
which he finds, TO his horror, is poison
vine If he kindles his fire the brush
may be full of Il, and il is particularly
poisonous when burning. In order to
avoid such a pest every child ought TO
be taught 10 recognize ii.
"Rhus toxicodendron, Greek and Celetic
for red poison bush, is its name in botany
and in medicine. II is an active, acrid
poison. leaving upon the skin crowd OF
minute watery blisters, which may pass
through several stages Of malignancy.
Some persons are never poisoned by IL.
Others are sometimes poisoned, and yet
others cannot even pass il in certain
stages Of its growth without being af-
fected. Often ii results in long and pain
ful illness; in rare cases il is fatal. One
that increases liability 10
danger from it is the variability OF its as
pect; another Is its resemblance 20 the IN
nccenI Virginia cTccper. Both are freasy
1aincled Gu Dur roadsileS. Popularity
they are beth vines. but that term be-
lCngs only D the creeper. that IS strictly (
a vine, with all the grace and suppleness !
CT the wild grape. 10 which Il is nearly |
related. II has the same ,ong, finger |
like tendrilLs waving seductively about 10 |
find some chance support, and rosettes |
Of palm shaped leaves, as if a grape LEAF /
had heen cut into five portions set with /
fine show teeth along the edges. On the |
Rhus has three leaflets, the /
end one the largest and remote from the |
others. all irregularly and coarsely tooth
ed. Nc two OF the leaves are just alike. |
l. has no tendri,s, but climbs, ike Eng |
fish ivy. by little bristling rooIlets which |
squirt all along the main stem. and even
tually cover il Ike moss. These rootiets
penetrate posts or bark trees and clins |
there 50 tightly that the plant cannot be
torn off without difficulty
The companionship of these two most
common climbers is quite remarkable,
and, roughly speaking, their resemblance
also. when the radical difference Of their
nature is considered. Another confusing
i sthe use OF the same COM
mon name-ivy. This seems a kind OF
synonym for any species Of climbing
plant We hear OF Wentworth ivy and
German ivy, English ivy and poison ivy.
al totally different plants. Notain5
seems more hopeless than 10 get rea-
sonable nomenclature for plans In Cali
fornia. where Rhus IS dangerously abun-
iant il is known as poison oak. growing
IN cIearings ike a stout shrub. with
foliage much like The young white oak i
50 freely mingleS with. Only a mos,
sracticed eye can distinguish them From.
a BEAUTIFUL irregularity of its leaves il
has gained the specific name OF diversil-
15a. Il palms itself off. as i. were. for
better than itself. and creeps
around under many DISCUSSES.
The other Of our two poisonous North
American plants is the swamp Sumach.
known also as swamp dogwood. casting