Warning: Poison Plant

If you think poison ivy is just a plant-obsessed woman who loves to pick a fight with Batman, you cannot be more wrong. There’s another trouble-causing poison ivy around—and this one is for real. Lucky for us Filipinos, this poison plant is found only in the United States and Canada. Poison ivy can grow anywhere—from open woods to roadsides, from stonewalls to edges of fields. Sometimes it grows as weeds; other times it’s a hairy, tree-climbing vine. The plant has no thorns. What set it apart are the clusters of tree almond-shaped leaflets that grow on its stems. The leaves are dull or glossy, light- to dark-green color that turn yellow or red in fall. In winter, the plant loses its leaves; in spring, yellow-green flowers bloom.

The trouble with Urushiol

Yoo-roo-shee-ol. That’s the right way to pronounce urushiol, the sticky, colorless, odorless oil found in poison ivy leaves. When the plant is bumped, torn, rubbed against, this oil is released. And that’s when the trouble begins…

Urushiol bonds to human skin in minutes, causing an allergic reaction that can appear as quickly as within hours from touching the plant or as late as five days after. The skin becomes red and swollen, small blisters begin to form, and the rash becomes very itchy. It takes about a week—sometimes longer—before the blisters start to dry up and the rash to go away.

Not all people are allergic to urushiol, however, and sensitivity to it changes over time. A person who was allergic to it as a child may not be so as an adult, while one who is not sensitive to it at first can become allergic to it later on.

Good for ivy, bad for us

You have probably heard that rising carbon dioxide in the air causes global warming. But did you know that increased carbon dioxide also causes poison ivy vines to grow faster and develop the most toxic forms of urushiol?

An outdoor experiment that simulated the amount of carbon dioxide expected to be in the air by 2050 showed this result. Scientists are hoping the unusually rapid poison ivy growth would be offset by factors like limited sunlight and more animals eating the plant.

Don’t touch!

Urushiol remains active for a long time, even in dead or dried plants. If the plant is burned and its smoke inhaled, a rash may develop in the lungs, causing extreme pain and difficulty in breathing. If poison ivy is eaten, the digestive tract and important organs may be damaged.

Cool showers and medicines like an antihistamine or steroid help decrease the itching and redness caused by urushiol. But the best way to deal with poison ivy is to avoid it in the first place by not touching the plant.