Plants That Irritate Skin — Some Wild and Some Tame

Leaves of Three — Leave Them Be!

Three common plants that irritate skin are almost CERTAIN to bother every person who handles them. Poison Ivy, Oak and Sumac are the most warned plants for extensive skin irritation. This team irritates when fully leafed in the summer, when naked without leaves in the winter and after the vine is officially dead!  

Some people can get away with touching them, even pulling the vines, while others can’t even think about these plants without getting the famous itchy rash. Still others experience the irritation when touching other people’s clothes or touching their dogs.

Many of the irritators have accumulative effects. Once sensitive, always and MORE sensitive in the future

Plant Irritations — Historical Non-Fiction

Before 2004, I wouldn’t have been able to tell you what Poison Ivy looked like!  It didn’t thrive at any location where I ever lived. We moved to the Ozark Mountains of Missouri, where the conditions for irritating poison ivy vines are perfect.  There are vines in the wild that could carry you off — or at least they look that big and fierce!

I cannot say I wasn’t warned that poison ivy would give me trouble. Early on,I was advised to cover up with long sleeves, long pants, shoes and socks and rubber gloves.  Even then, don’t touch the plant if you can help it.   I did just that, clipping and unwinding a vine from an old tree trunk, doing my ‘talking to the plant’ thing, telling it to get out of my yard.  No rash came from that performance. 

Going forward, I felt pretty smart.  The next time, 3 years later, I decided to clear a neglected rock garden feature by the house.  Barehanded on a hot day, I was out there ripping vines out of the ground and winding them around my arm like garden hose.  Sweat was dripping and I wiped my face clear. I hauled a BUNCH of that crap to the incinerator and felt tough.

A couple days later, I found two little spots on a finger!  Looked like bites, but someone said maybe poison ivy. “Nah! That stuff doesn’t bother me!”  The next day, the rash was worse and I was excused from work with advice to see the doctor and invest in calamine lotion.  “Nah, this will be just a little thing.” One more day brought more rash with swelling, plus rash and swelling on my neck and face.  The distorted images of poison ivy rash sufferers that you see online are not imaginary. Now, I LOOKED tough and felt terrible. 

A trip to the doctor, where they took one look and diagnosed, gained me a prednisone injection and a protocol of pills.  Along with advice about increasing antihistamine. The best piece of advice was to use an ice cube to scratch itching spots. 

I became compulsively careful around poison ivy. I still do not know that I’ve seen poison oak or sumac in my outings.  Maps showing where these plants grow indicate they are not typical in my location.

The Dog Made Me Do it!

When a dog got himself and his Flexi-Leash hopelessly tangled in some brush, the darn poison ivy got me again. This sweet dog was released, then I crawled into the brush to retrieve the leash. I got ‘way more than a leash.  

Back to the doctor. This time, I erroneously declined the prednisone injection, taking only a much softer regimen of pills than years before.  BIG MISTAKE. The rash swelled more and was painful as well as itchy. I felt sick all the time. Side effects of the prednisone — compulsive eating, crabby behavior kicked in as they hadn’t done the first time.

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Other Risky Offensive Behavior — Deal With it!

At the risk of offending every environmental person on the planet, I have begun spraying to kill poison ivy in my immediate living area.  Deal with it.  I have used a dreaded and defamed commercial spray. I have created my own concoction of vinegar, salt and soap that works.  Any little leaves of three that pop up get ‘the business end’ of my sprayer.

While I will remove irritating plants from my immediate habitat, I do have ‘wild places’ on our small acreage. I throw wildflower seeds out on wild banks that can join the free weeds! (More in future posts)

The Irritating Plant List Grows

Several other plants, both wild and tame, will cause skin irritation. The big irritator terms are “Contact Dermatitis” and “phytodermatitis.”  

A few plants irritate nearly everyone.  Other plants can be irritating to some people, but not others. I have had personal irritating experience with some of the plants on the checklist.  Many plants on the list have come from reports from other people who have been irritated by them. Since I built that list, I’ve come across even more irritating plants that I missed. 

Treatment and Protection

Avoidance is the best protection.  “Leaves of three; leave them be.” is an accurate adage for poison ivy, oak or sumac.  Sometimes other plants with clusters of three leaves get mis-identified. We have many flowering box elder seedlings that resemble poison ivy till they are a year old. Until I am sure, I don’t touch anything with the three leaves.

Oops! Plant Irritation Has Happened!

You will know SOON when you have contact with a plant that causes you irritation.  Best if you KNOW before PROOF in the form of rash appears. What to do if you do mix it up with an irritating plant?  There are some things you can do to get relief. You may still have to ‘live it down’. I’ve not learned of any remedy that got rid the serious rashes faster than 3 weeks.

Immediate treatment literally lies at your feet. A little weed called plantain (driveway weed) is nature’s remedy for poison ivy and many other irritations.  Picking a leave, mashing it to get to any juices, then applying that to each contact spot will help slow and stop many irritations.  

I also create a creme using dried plantain leaves, olive oil and beeswax to apply to irritation spots. 

 Washing with soap and water as soon as possible can help you avoid serious rash or help keep it minimal.  Some recommend using ‘homemade soap.’ Any soap that helps you avoid serious itching, burning or blisters is the right soap for you.  Some resources say that washing can spread the irritating chemicals. I would suggest washing soon and thoroughly to avoid that. Tossing the washcloths and towels into the wash to avoid re-exposure would help. 

A quick trip inside to mop sweat?  Use a clean tissue and only rub one way…don’t scrub.

Even if you are itching like a hound, bathing in chlorine bleach and scraping the blisters is NOT recommended. Scratching or scraping the blisters open can set you up for infections that have nothing to do with the irritating plant. My physician recommended applying an ice cube to the itching instead of scratching. Scratching your skin can lead to infections and more misery. 

Our family has used St. Ives Apricot Scrub to wash when we were certain we had a poison ivy encounter. 

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A visit to your physician can get you a prescription for corticosteroids and antihistamines.  They will bring some relief in the moment, but will not end the irritation.  

Reduce your stress! Plant rash irritations are not contagious to other people. At first contact, it is possible to spread some irritant oils on yourself with your hands. But after you realize you have a problem, you aren’t going to spread it to others. 

Burn Vines With Extreme Caution

The management temptation is to BURN the irritating plants when clearing them.  This can be extremely dangerous because the smoke can carry bits of plant ash and oils into lungs. Just reading about some of the irritations when I’ve only experienced a few, makes me wary of having that stuff in my lungs! 

Other Irritating Plants That Will Get YOU

Vinca minor, sometimes called periwinkle for the unusually blue flower, is a favorite decorative vine in containers.  In some growing zones, the vines are happy to escape and grow on their own in the flower beds. I really like their cream and green leaves, especially in decorative containers. Their irritation is quite similar to the rash from poison ivy. My first experience led to great stress because I was certain I hadn’t touched poison ivy.  I had re-potted a large collection of vinca vines. Going back over activities led me to the vincas. Further research reinforced my opinion. I am much more careful about handling the vines, but I haven’t given them up. 

Smartweed lives up to its name by leaving a burning sensation on my hands when I get serious about pulling it out of a patch.  Gloves change all of that. 

Stinging nettles will give you a contact irritation rash for a few hours unless you are very sensitive. Irritating, but not health threatening. 

We have some massive forsythia bushes. Pruning season comes right after the blooms fade. The pollen is probably still active because these shrubs irritate my skin, eyes and respiratory system. 

Some of the irritating plants use tiny thorns or sharp ‘hairs’ on the leaves and stems. Usually these plants are wild and not something I want in my flower beds. It is a poor choice to reach out and attempt to pull them without protective gloves.  Or use another tool to get them.

Irritating Plants That Work With a Bit Of Sunshine

Sunlight exposure is part of the weaponry from plants such as Queen Anne’s Lace, Wild Parsnip, Cow Parsnip and others in this ‘wild carrot’ family. The irritation is increased by sunlight and scratching. Rash may not spread as much as expected, but will itching and other reactions will increase with the sunlight.  Another big term phytophotodermatitis applies to the misery from handling these plants. THe more sunlight, the more pronounced rash with big blisters. Some have reported several weeks before recovery. 

Why do irritating plants do that to us?

Can you believe a defensive mechanism starts a lot of this!  The plants don’t have hands to hold other weapons. Or a voice to warn intruders that they are in the plant’s space! Without some sort of defense plan, plants just get run over!  These defense mechanisms work very well as many of us can confirm!

Do you have experiences to share about irritation from plants on the checklist?  Or do you know of some that were missed when compiling this information? Please feel free to share your experiences or remedies in the comments.  (Comments are moderated)

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