A poison ivy experiment 



Ralph C. Benedict 



Poison ivy is generally an interesting topic to everyone. 

 Some of us delight to claim practical immunity while others are 

 pleased to describe various remedies. During the summer, I had 

 some new experience with Rhus toxicodendron L. and a little 

 with Rhus vernix L. 



The latter occurred in connection with a field trip of the 

 American Fern Society and the Torrey Botanical Club at 

 Sparta, New Jersey, where some 40 distinct fern types were 

 noted with two others nearby but not seen on this occasion. 

 Part of the trip was in a swamp in which not infrequent growths 

 of poison sumac were noted. One of the party, very susceptible 

 to Rhus poisoning, found he had accidentally come into contact 

 with the leaves of poison sumac. Another member of the party 

 proposed a remedy easily obtainable in almost any situation 

 in this neighborhood, namely, jewel weed. Presently, some 

 jewel weed was found and the juice of the crushed stems was 

 rubbed over the parts of the skin which might have come in 

 contact with the poison sumac. 



The sequel, of course, should be that no poisoning appeared 

 on the suspected areas. I must say that I did not hear definitely, 

 but I think this is highly probable since Rhus poisoning usually, 

 if not always, is dependent on contact with the actual sap of the 

 plants. 



A little later, I had an opportunity to experiment with jewel 

 weed as a possible remedy. It had been my experience for a 

 long time that neither of these species produced on my own skin 

 any serious disability. A drop of the sap from the broken leaf 

 always gives rise to a small inflamed area not as uncomfortable 

 as a mosquito bite and lasting only a little longer. Accordingly, 

 I proceeded to try out jewel weed as a remedy while spending 

 time at Lake George this last summer. On the back of each 

 hand, I wet a small area by rubbing the broken end of a poison 

 ivy leaf. It may be noted that no poisoning or inflamation de- 

 veloped on the parts of the hands that had held the leaves. 

 Next, on the back of the left hand, I rubbed jewel weed juice 

 by bruising the stems and rubbing them over the area. On the 

 right hand, I had the usual reaction, a small red spot about a 



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