The Mena weekly star., 1920-08-05
Admire the Poison Ivy For Sturdy Self-Defense
National Geographic Says ITO Know the Poison Ivy Is to Avoid It. Should Not Be Confused With Vir- ginia Creeper.
tBy International News scryice.)

tBy International News Srrvice.) 1 Washington, July 26.--"Look out for that poison ivy" is an oft-repeat- ed cry these picnic days.
 According to scientific sharps of the National Geographic Society, "io know the poison ivy is to avoid it, yet to admire it for it's sturdy self defense"
 They point out that poison ivy is member of the sumac family, nav ing as relatives the vinegar tree. the smooth surmac and the smokebush. It's range reaches as far north as i Nova Scotia, as far south as Florida and Texas, and as far west as Utah and British Columbia.
 Many people confuse the Virginia creeper with the rascally poison ivy, confusion which nothing but care lessness in remembering the charac- teristics of plants could bring about; for the Virginia creeper is careful al ways to put forth five leaves where the poison ivy has only three," says a bulletin of the Geographic So- ciety.
 "The Virginia creeper is con- demned as being poison ivy oftener than poison ivy is credited with being Virginia creeper. Many Virginia creeper has reached the untimely end of mattock execution by the error, and not a few people have received when they have failed to observe that l.. kL. and five leaves friend
 "The poison ivy, or poison oak, as some call it, is prodigal climber, inclined to run over everything in sight, Even the oak sometimes is almost smothered when the poison ivy reaches ats topmost branches and spreads it's dense foliage over them.
 Ut begins to blossom in May and June, it's flowers being small, frag- rant, yellowish green, and arranged in densely clustered spikes. Toward fall these develop into smooth, white, waxlike berries that often hold fast the winter through. The three leaves are shining green, short-stemmed and oval-pointed.
 "The poison of this ivy is a pow elful, non-volatile oil which pene- trates the pores of the human skin and develops hosts of tiny itching blisters, followed by burning swell ing of the affected parts.
 While we very naturally dislike a plant that poisons us when we touch it, yet if we investigate the reason for its poison we discover that a vast number of plants develop poi sons and near-poisons, and when we look over the list we find that we would be rather badly off without them. 1t is true that most of them are poisonous only when eaten, and that few are poisonous to the touch, but they have all developed these qualities in self-defense.
 Some of them store their poison in their seeds, others in their root-stocks and others in their roots to protect their progeny from harm. They do not go about looking for trouble or seeking, like the devil, whom they may destroy; but they are prepared to resist invasion of the rights of their children. Nux-vomica and aconite are two of many such illus trations that might be cited.
 Others develop alkaloids, like the nicotine of tobacco, the quinine of the cinchona tree, and the theine of tea. to protect themselves. Strychnine, digitalis and hundred and one in- dispensable drugs that are poisonous in overdoses are the gift of the plant world to man as by-product of plant preparations for self-defense.
 And so, when the poison ivy learned to give off it's poison by con- tact rather than through it's own de stfuction, it simply went a step fur ther than it's neighbors. It has ar ranged it's plans of defense so that it can wage war without first being eat en- In that respect it meets the prob lem in the same way as the thistle and the thorn, although it fights by subtle stealth rather than open war fare"