#100HappDays

#100happydays Day 34  Watch out for it!

Love the trails but not the Poison Ivy! It’s good we know what it looks like. I heard the Jewel Weed is an natural antidote to the rash the the ivy can give you, but we don’t want to find out if it’s true! The picture here is from this mornings run.

Toxicodendron radicans, commonly known as poison ivy ,is a poisonous North American and Asian flowering plant that is well known for causing an itching, irritating, and sometimes painful rash in most people who touch it, caused by urushiol, a clear liquid compound in the sap of the plant. It is variable in its appearance and habit, and despite its common name it is not a true ivy. T. radicans is commonly eaten by many animals and the seeds are consumed by birds, but is most often thought of as a weed. Wikipedia

We are seeing a lot of poison ivy along the trails this year. Maybe it’s because we finally know what it looks like!

Did you know: (from the Healthy Canadians website)

•     Poison ivy belongs to the same plant family as the trees producing the mango and the cashew nut.
•     Urushiol oil is so potent that only one nanogram (billionth of a gram) is needed to cause a rash.
•     No animal can get a rash from poison ivy, but they can get the urushiol oil on their fur.
•     Goats and other grazers eat poison ivy, and birds eat the seeds.