Watch Out for These

On Saturday, I decided to remove two dead trees that could have fallen and blocked my driveway.  The intention was to take them down so my wife would not have to deal with them if they fell when I get back on the trail.  Although the trees were rotting the vines attached to the trees were alive and well.  End result - POISON OAK OR IVY.  Almost every summer I get poison ivy when I use a weedeater, but this time there were no leaves to identify the vines.  Since I have a lot of wild muscadine vines, I thought that was what they were and I went to work pulling vines.  Apparently these were not muscadine vines.  Itching started on Sunday afternoon on my arm, but by 1:00 am Monday morning after eating my midnight snack I could feel  my lips getting tight and beginning to swell and it looked like I had hives.  Thinking it was a reaction to what I had just eaten, poison ivy or poison oak never entered my mind, especially since I had no blisters at this time.  After a trip to the doctor, I now know the vines were poisonous.  Since Saturday was about 80 degrees I must have wiped the sweat off my head transferring the poison to my ears, neck, and face.  At least I got treatment started early with a shot, Prednesone, and Benadryl cream to relieve the itching.  The whole point of this writing is to provide information to any reader that may prevent him, myself included, from going through the itching and blisters I now have.  Below are pictures of these poisonous plants to help with identification before coming in contact with them.  The best rule is "leaves of three let it be".  This is true of poison ivy and poison oak. Of course there are other non-poisonous plants with three leaves, but close inspection shows that the tips of the leaves on poison ivy will form a triangle and the leaves are not symmetrical, meaning the central vein is not centered, one side larger than the other.   Poison oak has the same identifying marks, but the leaves tend to mimic the other plants around it.  The leaves may look like an oak or may be rounded.  Poison sumac characteristically has either 9 or 11 leaves on a single stalk.  These plants grow just about everywhere in the southeastern states and are one of the things to be avoided on any trail hike especially on the AT or Pinhoti.  Remember the rule - leaves of three, let it be.