EVERY year sees many adults, and especially children, accidentally
poisoned from contact with plants that they did not know were harmful.
Had the sufferers known how to detect poisonous plants they could
have avoided them and escaped the painful experience of severe skin
inflammations and water blisters. Very few persons have a sufficient
degree of immunity to protect them from poisonous plants, and many do not
recognize them in the various forms that they assume in different parts
of the country.
One or more kinds of poison-ivy--common poison-ivy, oakleaf poison-ivy,
and western poison-oak--occur in abundance in almost every part of the
United States. Poison sumac is of more limited distribution and occurs
chiefly east of the Mississippi River, usually in swampy regions.
Poisoning by these plants is largely preventable. A knowledge sufficient
to identify them in their various forms is easily gained by anyone who
will make a study of pictures and general descriptions and train himself
by a little diligent practice to observe the plants in his locality. It
is important to become poison-oak or poison-ivy conscious. This can be
accomplished only by learning to know the plants by repeated experience
in observing them in their various forms. Persons who learn both to
know and to avoid the plants can save themselves much inconvenience and
discomfort. The simple means of learning to recognize them will pay big
dividends. It is the first step to the prevention of poisoning and to the
eradication of the pests from private grounds and public places.
The most effective method of prevention is to eradicate the plants, and
wherever possible this should be done. They should not be allowed to grow
in lawns or gardens, with ornamental shrubbery, or on houses. Communities
should not countenance the growth of poison-ivy or poison-oak in school
grounds, on public roadways, or in parks, especially those frequented by
children. The cost of medical aid for one season in treating pupils using
an ivy-infested schoolyard is likely to be more than that of eradicating
the plants, to say nothing of the suffering and inconvenience they may
cause.