"MajorOz" wrote in message
...
Interesting, it doesn't grow in California.

...really...?

Tell that to the hospital folks at Vandenberg AFB. Some years back,
when they sent volunteers to help fight a fire in the coastal
mountains nearby, a wind shift caused smoke inhalation from burning PI
that put a bunch of folks in hospital with PI burns in trachea and
lungs. Good friend, with a PI allergy, almost died.
oz

Correct, Poison Ivy does NOT grow in California. Poison Oak west, Poison Ivy
east. PO is a sub species of PI. Because PO often grows in a vine-like
manner it's sometimes confused and the names are interchanged. That fire was
in 1996 and even the news papers interchanged the names, hence the
confusion. People as much as 10 miles from that fire were reported suffering
effects from the PO smoke toxins carried in the wind. Inhaling the smoke of
burning plants can cause the same blisters, inflammation and swelling
internally as direct contact on the skin. Poison Oak (Toxicodendron
diversilobum) and its eastern counterpart Poison Ivy (Toxicodendron
radicans) are two of the most notoriously painful plants in North America.

I remember in the late 60s camping in California, in an area where PO had
been cut and cleared. No signs were posted or warnings made. By day two a
dozen of us were showing signs of PO. We had picked up the sap from the cut
vegetation stubble and it was on our shoes, clothing, camping equipment,
etc. What a mess. A dozen of us ended up in the ER at NAS Alameda. I haven't
been camping since.

Val