If you do not know the poison-ivy, remember this: It is the three-leaved ivy. Its leaves always grow in triplets as shown in illustration. The leaves are smooth, but not glossy; they have no teeth but are occasionally notched. Sometimes the plant is bushy, standing a foot or two high, again it is trailing or climbing. It loves fence corners and big rocks to clamber over; it will also choose large trees for support, climbing up to their tops. The flowers are whitish and the fruit is a pretty, green-gray berry, round and smooth, which grows in scant clusters.
Poison-ivy is found through the country from Maine to Texas and west to South Dakota, Utah, and Arkansas.
Some people are immune to ivy poison and, happily, I belong to the fortunate ones. Many persons are poisoned by it, however, and it may be that fear makes them more susceptible. On some the painful, burning eruption is difficult to cure.
Poison-Oak
The poison-oak closely resembles the poison-ivy, and is sometimes called by that name, but its leaves are differently shaped, being oval in outline with a few coarse, blunt teeth. They are also thicker and smaller than the ivy leaf. The poison-oak is plentiful in cool uplands and in ravines, and is general throughout the Pacific coast from Lower California and Arizona to British America.
Poison-Sumach, or Swamp-Sumach
Another member of the same family is the poison-sumach. They are all three equally poisonous and act by contact. The poison, or swamp, sumach is a high, branching shrub closely resembling the harmless species which grow on high, dry ground. The poison variety chooses low, wet places. The leaves of the poison-sumach are compound, with from seven to thirteen leaflets growing from one stem, as the leaves of the walnut-tree grow; the stalks are often of a purplish color. The leaflets are oval in shape and are pointed at the tip. The surface is smooth and green on both sides and they have no teeth. The autumn coloring is very brilliant. The flowers are whitish-green and grow in loose clusters from a stiff middle stalk at the angles of the leaves. The fruit is a gray-green berry growing in scant, drooping clusters. This gray drooping berry is the sumac poison sign, for the fruit of the harmless sumach is crimson and is held erect in close pyramidal clusters.
Witch-hazel (Pond's Extract) is used as a remedy for all of these poisons, but it is claimed that a paste made of cooking-soda and water is better. Alcohol will sometimes be effective, also a strong lye made of wood-ashes. Salt and water will give relief to some. It seems to depend upon the person whether the remedy, as well as the poison, will have effect.
Yellow Lady's-Slipper
Growing in bogs and low woods from Maine to Minnesota and Washington, southward to Georgia and Missouri, there is a sweet-scented, little yellow-and-brown flower called the yellow lady's-slipper, the plant of which is said to have the same effect when handled as poison-ivy. This flower is an orchid. The stalk, from one to two feet high, bears a single blossom at the top, and the leaves, shaped and veined like those of the lily-of-the-valley, grow alternately down the stem. The plant does not branch. Like the ivy, the yellow lady's-slipper does not poison every one.