If looks can kill,
this plant wouldn’t,
although, it’s bold, rash
and may drive riddle
readers mad.
This mystery plant
points toward earth
in leaves of three.
Its vines hug host trees
and trip unwary hikers.
It’s tinged with
red in spring.
It blends. It hides
in plain sight like
the Purloined Letter.
Edgar Allen Poe himself
would fear this
mean green menace,
this scourge of the
shady underbrush.
Even its latin name warns,
Toxicodendron radicans.
Its common name
evokes fear of torture
by red blisters.
Have you guessed?
Poison ivy!
Copyright 2016 Brenda Davis Harsham
Notes: How soon did you guess it? Did you recognize it from its picture? My children and I dread the vine, and we’ve learned its many faces. We’re highly allergic to urushiol (u-ROO-she-ol), an oil in the poisonous three: sumac, oak and ivy. But despite its name, the rash isn’t fatal. You just might wish it were.
This riddle is my contribution to Poetry Friday, this week hosted by Katie at the Logonauts. Thanks, Katie!
Update: I grieve with the City of Dallas today. As we face more senseless violence, I am comforted by the non-hate-filled rhetoric of Obama, who is quoted by the BBC: ‘Mr Obama added that “when people are armed with powerful weapons it makes attacks like these more deadly and more tragic”, a subject that, he said, must be addressed in “the days ahead”.’
Thanks to those who agree that powerful weapons are too deadly to be easily available:
Sign Petition to Ban Assault Weapons
I had a rather itchy encounter with this beautiful terror some years back. Then, I had no appreciation of the commonly heard warnings until I got those little red welts that formed a straight line on my ankles and I scratched, and because scratching felt so heavenly, scratched some more. Until I itched all over. Because I was then pregnant, I could not use over the counter remedies. I soaked my legs in hot water. Little did I know that the heat spread the oil. So I began using cold water (in winter at that!) and pressing an ice pack on the itchiest parts. Oh, that was a miserable time. Now, I am wiser about getting close to poison ivy and messing with a rash when I do get one. However, I am happy to note that my brush with the toxin kind of mitigated my susceptability to it.
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It’s no fun when you’ve spread it all over before you even realize you’ve touched it.
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Ist ein schöner Eintrag. Freundliche Grüße, Wolfgang
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Vielen Dank.
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No, I didn’t guess. I don’t think I’ve ever met Miss Poison Ivy. 😉 I’m kind of wary of touching a lot of plants generally, simply because I don’t know enough about them. There is a plant we have in Norwich that tends to grow in shady areas, has huge leaves (have forgotten the name of it now!) it can give a nasty rash and blisters. It’s probably the only plant I would recognise as a problem simply because it’s so giant!
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I’m glad to have found a truly American plant. 🙂 So far only people in the Americas recognize it. And we know it right away like you do with your shady giant. 🙂
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I being a good scout knew and point it out to my grandies so they can evade it’s treacherous deeds. I take antibacterial clear liquid and pour it on my hands then move from knees to ankles until soaking if I tread through it to take photos. My one grandson and a dear friend both almost can look at it and get a rash! 😦
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I just avoid treading through it. 🙂
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I’ve never seen poison ivy so this post is invaluable to identify it by if we are ever somewhere that has it. I assumed that it would look more like they typical ivy plant… shows how little I know !
p.s. the shooting and the aftermath now and in days too come… stay safe people, and remember that EVERY human life matters. In light of all the mass shootings over the years I am still shocked that the USA Govt hasn’t manage to ban automatic weapons. We have a few odd , rare, gun crimes here in the Netherlands, but this.. shootings like what happens often in the US is completely unheard of. A result of hard laws on gun ownership here. I can only hope that all people could respect human life more.
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I would hope that people would value human life over their interest in a hobby of shooting at a gun range. People don’t seem to see it that way. “Guns don’t shoot people, people shoot people,” is what the gun defenders say.
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I knew the answer to the riddle from my first peek at your picture: “Leaves of three, let it be!” I’m not highly allergic to the poisons (oak, ivy, sumac), but I’ve itched enough to give it a wide berth, and I’ve seen the oozing, spreading blisters of friends who ARE allergic. Yikes! My summer nemesis is the chigger. I hate those little buggers, but I’ve learned to repel them with sulfur.
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Sulfur from a fire? Or do you commune with dragons? 😉
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Agh, your riddle is a fair warning and a clever poem, Brenda. Brava! “Toxicodendron radicans” indeed! =)
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I’m showing my horticulture roots. 😉
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Oh I love this riddle. Yes, I did guess but I loved the hints you gave along the way. We don’t have poison ivy in Australia but I’ve come across it in many books and so it feels like an old (though nasty) friend.
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I’m glad you like it. If you ever come to visit, you’ll know what to watch for. 😉
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This reminds me of when I was in college taking a dendrology class. We had to identify many plants during our finals. One way we identified some was taste… (like the wintergreen taste of a one kind). So I see a student put a poison ivy plant in his mouth…! It was during the final, but I went over to warn him, after all, if this person was allergic, this could have been very, very bad. When the TA saw me going over, he got upset, but I told him the guy was going to put in his mouth! He told me, to be quiet because it was a test! I was horrified. I believe the kid did get a very bad case of PI in his mouth…Yikes. Seriously?!
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I took horticulture in college, and we had to learn over 400 flowers and houseplants in one semester. But not by taste! How cruel. I wish I had taken the woody class. I wish I knew more shrubs and trees.
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I knew from the picture but the riddle was great fun, too! We had to deal with a gigantic poison oak infestation at our new house this spring, but all of our protection efforts paid off. Thanks for linking up with Poetry Friday!
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I’ve heard of poison oak, but I’ve never encountered it. Thanks for hosting. Have a great week!
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But it looks so pretty… Ruth, thereisnosuchthingasagodforsakentown.blogspot.com
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Pretty is as pretty does. LOL And this one does ill!
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I have had far too many encounters with “this scourge of the
shady underbrush.” What a wonderful poem!
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Me, too, and thanks! 🙂
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Wow. Sounds like a nasty piece of work.
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No poison ivy in your neck of the woods?
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I am not “very” allergic, but was hit once in my fervor to clean out a weed patch. Oh my, not fun! But your poem riddle added a mysterious tone with that connection to The Purloined Letter, Brenda.
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The Purloined Letter is a story I read in my youth, and those seem to stay with us the longest. Thanks for commenting.
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I was just thinking about riddle poems this morning! Fun timing, Brenda. I didn’t realize that it turns red…this is kind of a PSA as well as a poem!
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I suppose I was doing a PSA in part. LOL I hadn’t thought of it that way. I like to write riddle poems sometimes. Thanks for dropping by.
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I got itchy just reading this poem! Apparently goats love to eat poison ivy and do so with no ill effects. Time for a new pet perhaps?
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Yes, I’ve heard that about goats. If only they wouldn’t eat the rest of the garden, too.
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I like the idea of sticking to the maple leaves –
🙂
Or leaves we “know”
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It works for us. 😀
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So smart !
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Leaves of three……Hate this stuff which we have at The Holler unfortunately!
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That is sad. People around here use Roundup on it.
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We have poison oak here, and thankfully I’m not allergic to it! I have heard that natural immunity wears off so I stay clear of it when I see it.
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I didn’t use to be allergic to it. Then one day, BAM! Poison Sumac got me.
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I can’t hit the “like” button for that! 😦 That’s what I’m afraid of happening to me!
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My dad is a hale 77, and he’s never had a reaction depute ripping it off of swamp willows every year for over 40 years. You can never tell, but I’d avoid it just to be safe. 😉
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BEAUTIFUL IN THE AUTUMN…BUT DEADLY THE YEAR-ROUND…! 😦
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It does turn a gorgeous red in the fall. So lovely to the leaf-gathering tots! I tell mine not to pick up any red leaves unless it’s shaped like a hand — a maple. 🙂
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Red AND yellow…around these parts…either along the ground or climbing bushes, buildings or trees! 😀
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Fascinating. I didn’t realize it turns yellow, too. How tricky. It gets everywhere once its roots are in the ground.
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And puts out more roots or “hanging onto” hairy rootlets every few feet or inches. Makes the stuff harder to pull out….personal experience talking here!
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Ugh. I stay away!
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Based upon experience—that’s a very good idea! 🙂
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Reblogged this on By the Mighty Mumford and commented:
POI=SON IVY…IS NOT GOOD.
iT IS CLIMBING ALL AROUND THE WOOD,
fOOLISH PEOPLE EVEN BREATHE THE SMOKE—
gETTING RASHES AND A REALLY BAD CHOKE!
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No joke!
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