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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] [off topic] Nettles

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  • From: "Doc Lisenby" <longdistshtr@shtc.net>
  • To: <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] [off topic] Nettles
  • Date: Fri, 27 Apr 2007 11:47:44 -0400

We call "Jewelweed", "Wild Columbine" down here. The delicate flowers are a light orange color. It is common along streams and branches, especially those which transverse cultivated fields. Some folks eat it as a green in salads. It is supposed to be a Native American remedy for poison ivy contact dermatitis and at one time it was an ingredient of a patent medicine. I have also heard that the Native Americans fed their children poison ivy leaves to develop an immunity tolerance to it. (sic!)
The leaves shine when placed under water due to surface tension effect thus; "Jewelweed". I felt slighted as a boy because I never developed sensitivity to poison ivy and couldn't try this remedy. I have recommended gently sandpapering the early vesicles and washing with lye soap before cortisone ointment came along. Calamine lotion looks like it helps and many people believe it works. It takes two weeks to heal with calamine lotion, fourteen days without it. May keep you from scratching the urticarial lesions and spreading the urushiol containing oil.

Doc Lisenby
SoCar.




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