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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] Poison Ivy Article

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  • From: "Donna &/or Kieran" <holycow@cookeville.com>
  • To: "North American Fruit Explorers" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Poison Ivy Article
  • Date: Wed, 24 Oct 2007 23:00:48 -0500

Jim Fruth asked about degradation of poison ivy over time.
I seldom react to poison ivy at all, and for the last 14 years we have lived in a place that is crawling with it. However, once in a while in the winter time I get it, almost always a day or two after digging in an area where it grows. Apparently the sap from the cut vines or roots delivers more urushiol than merely brushing the surface of the leaves. Well, one winter I found myself with a rash on my left wrist every single Monday. It happened every week for at least a month. I finally figured that I must have gotten the sap from a cut plant on the cuff of the beat up jacket I wore at home, and it stopped happening after I washed the jacket.
So I don't think the chemical necessarily breaks down with the mere passage of time. However, sunshine might break it down. I doubt the inner sleeve of my jacket had much sunshine exposure. Or it may be that the urushiol evaporates. A low dose from brushing the leaf may have wafted away long before the dose delivered by the dried sap. Or the sap may have held the urushiol in a way that could be accessed by my wrist rubbing against it for hours. Donna




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