Information about poison ivy, oak, sumac and the skin rashes they cause
The ITCHY Project: Poison Ivy Education and Research: The Jelesko laboratory at Virginia Tech is the only academic research lab devoted to Poison Ivy/Oak/Sumac research. The Jelesko lab recently launched the Investigating Toxicodendron Change and Habitat for Years (ITCHY) Project to educate the public about poison ivy science (both what is known and still unknown).
In this 20-second video you can see where visitors to this website come from, at least on June 20. It does change as the season rolls along.
Umar Mycka, that legendary poison ivy warrior, sent me the photo of a massive poison vine creeping up a house.
There are so many reasons you don't want this kind of thing going on. Let me count the ways:
As a poison ivy nerd, I figure I have heard most of what there is to say about poison ivy. But when I picked up the newest book by Anita Sanchez, "In Praise of Poison Ivy," I was totally mind boggled.
We have a new poison ivy control service listed: our first goat-powered service. Goats (and other farm animals) can eat all the poison ivy they want with no ill effects.
Poison ivy is a vine. It runs along the ground and climbs on trees and buildings. So here we see a plant with stalks over six feet tall. So can this be poison ivy?
Here we have a good example of how different poison ivy leaves can appear, from the first leaves of spring.
Notice how the top "leaves of three" is a typical set of three, all pointed, about the same size.
The CBS station in San Francisco reports that the heavy rains have produced an explosion of poison oak; certainly a less welcome result than the wildflower superblooms in the deserts.
I just received this totally offbeat way to deal with poison ivy rash:
If you are a fellow poison ivy freak: someone fascinated by this devilish plant, consider attending the Annual Poison Ivy Conference, put together by Umar Mycka, of The Poison Ivy Horticulturalist. Umar knows pretty much everything there is to know about poison ivy, oak, and sumac.
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