itchy, scratchy, and poisonous

POISON IVY

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ITCHY, SCRATCHY,& POISONOUS

Allens Pond

Allens Pond

ITCHY, SCRATCHY,& POISONOUS

Throughout my two month journey back and forth going to Allens Pond I was constantly afraid that I was going to get poison ivy or somehow myself hurt venturing out into a space I was unfamiliar with. This is a series of photos and information on plants I had come across with the strong fear that most were going to somehow harm me.

I made most of my trips in the September and October months when most of the plants I have photograped are missing their flowers and/or fruit.

Lindsay Gagnon

POISON IVY


SWEET PEPPERBUSH

Clethra alnifolia. The sweet pepperbush is native to the eastern part of North America; stretching from Nova Scotia (where it is endangered) to Florida. The flowers it produces can be either a pale pink or white, and it’s beautiful scent attracts neighboring bumblebees.

You can find this plant in wetlands, bogs, wet forests and next to woodland streams. While many use the sweet pepperbush as a filler in their gardens, most tend to stay away since it does not leaf out until much later in the season than most would like. It is also used along streams to prevent erosion.

When I found this plant it was bear of it’s flowers, making me confuse it for what I believed to be poison ivy. While this plant was not poisonous, it certainly was scratchy.

Ilex opaca. This plant, which most only think of when it is time for the holidays, is the American holly. Much like the sweet pepperbush it spans around the eastern part of North America, from Massachusetts to Florida and the southeastern parts of Missouri and Texas.

It has stiff matte green leaves that are long and wide with sides that curve into sharp points. It also has a light grey bark covered by warty bumps.

The flower it produces comes out in late spring and is a light green color. The small red fruit we are used to seeing on holly is called drupes. Each drupe contains four seeds and comes out in the winter season.

I found the American holly to be one of the most scratchy, with it’s sharp points scraping along the sides of my legs when I accidentally got too close.

AMERICAN HOLLY

POISON IVY


WINE BERRY

Rubus phoenicolasius. The wine berry is a type of raspberry that is native to Asian countries such as Japan, China, and Korea. The plant was brought over to Europe and North America to see if it could make a hybrid raspberry, but it had broken free from cultivation and can be found in northeastern North America.

The raspberry like fruit it produces is either an orange or red color that comes out in the summer and early autumn. It is edible, but is not concidered a berry, but rather an aggregate fruit with many drupelets around a core. (I suggest not trying to eat one).

The wine berry plant I had come across did not bare fruit, but had a rather scary looking stem covered in thorns. I found it to be not only terrifying but scattered throughout the area, making my journey full of anxiety.

SEAWEED

There are many different types of seaweed you may find washed up along the shore in the beach loop. Popular in Massachusetts is a type of seaweed called Dead Man’s Fingers. While most of the seaweed I had encountered was brown, slimy, and itchy; but it was what was inside of it that was making me so uncomfortable.

There are tons of flies, spiders, and other mysterious insects living inside of this seaweed home. While the seaweed itself was uncomfortable to walk in, these creatures made it that much worse. I left the area itchy for hours and breaking out in hives (which I don’t think is common).

I found it nearly impossible to snap a picture or even to see these incredibly fast seaweed dwellers, but the little red itchy spots they left behind on legs are enough for me to steer clear in the future.

POISON IVY


POISON IVY

Toxicodendron radicans. You can find poison ivy in three different formations. A trailing vine that can be almost ten inches tall, a climbing vine that can grow and wrap around tress, or a shrub that can grow to be up to four feet tall.

Everyone knows that if you don’t want to break out in a gooey rash to steer clear of poison ivy, but what is it that makes us to itchy? It is called urushiol. It is a clear liquid compound that you can find in the sap of poison ivy.

Poison ivy, my greatest enemy. I was lucky to learn from a staff member an easy way identify the plant. If you hold your hold out flat with all of your fingers pressed together that is what the leaves will look like, a sort of poisonous green mitten. Pictured is a shrub growning out of control.

BLACK RASPBERRY

Rubus occidentalis. The black raspberry plant is native to eastern North America. It is called a deciduous shrub that has prickly shoots. On strong grown stems you can five five leaflets, and on flowering branchlets you will find three leaflets.

It can produce a small raspberry type fruit, black in color, that is edible (I suggest not trying to eat one). It looks more like a blackberry but tastes neither like a blackberry or a raspberry.

The black raspberry is also high in anthocyanins, making them great to use as a natural dye. The anthocyanins is also an antioxidant, making people interested in their potential nutraceutical value.

When I first laid eyes on this plant it was because my shoe lace had gotten stuck on it’s thorns. I was afraid that it might be poison ivy, but after closer examination it was just another plant I was not yet able to identify.

POISON IVY


BLACK CHERRY

Prunus serotina. The black cherry plant is native from eastern North America, from Canada down to Florida and stretches to parts of Texas with disjunct populations in Arizona, New Mexico, and Guatemala.

This plant can grow to be 130 feet tall and have a trunk as wide as 4 feet in diameter, can grow flowers and produces fruit. The fruit is a drupe. At first it is green, then as it ripens it turns from red to black that is bitter and somewhat sweet when eaten. Many birds have taken a liking to the black cherry’s fruit.

Again, I had thought the black cherry I had come across was poison ivy. Lucky for me it was not. Some of the leaves have a red tint the their edges and very few had what looked to be a mitten like shape, making me think it could infact be poison ivy. The best way to tell the two apart is the black cherry has a brown tree branch like shoot when it is young.

MULTIFLORA ROSE

Rosa multiflora. This species of rose is native to eastern Asia in China, Japan, and Korea. It is concidered a scrambling shrub, as it will climb over other plants and grow to be up to ten feet high covered with thorns.

People generally grow the multiflora rose for the look of it’s flowers, while in North America it is concidered to be an invasive plant. It was brought over from Asia to be used as a soil conservation measure, and used to attract wildlife, it has since gotten out of hand. While some have started calling it a weed, it makes excellent food for goats.

When stumbling across the multiflora rose it was absent of flowers and left with an eery looking stem covered in thorns. In this state it was clear to see that it was an invasive plant, but after doing some research I was surprised to see how beautiful it is when it is in season.

POISON IVY


itchy, scratchy, and poisonous

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