My old house continues to educate me...Being very near the woods, and allowed to have the flower beds turn a little wild, the Burrow has been in need of some serious weeding.
Two weekends ago I spent an entire day pulling over-grown *pic.intheway*
Lambs Ear and Virginia Creeper from the front flower bed of the house. The end results look good, but I still need to devote more time to my weeding task. Finding the caterpillar (post) below was one of my treats that day. I hate to admit to some people how many snake holes there are around the yard out front...I did not find any of Snakey's family or friends, but I did see countless holes around as evidence of their proximity.
On Tuesday of last week I noticed I had some sort of a rash on my cheeks. It was limited to just my face and I tried to back track what I ate, where I had been, etc. I do wear gloves when I weed and I had looked up Virginia Creeper - just to be sure it wasn't Poison Ivy - I was pulling. What I failed to note was that the berries of Virginia Creeper contain oxalic acid. (Don't eat these! They are poisonous to humans and other mammals!) For more info. on Oxalic Acid click here. Apparently Oxalic Acid is a relatively strong organic acid. Oxalate crystals are also in the sap of the Virginia Creeper vine and can cause irritation and skin rash! When one pulls the vines, as in weeding, one may cause the vines to break and expel small amounts of sap. I do distinctly recall wrapping the vines around my gloved hands and then yanking the heck out of the plants.
Another mystery solved!
1 comment:
I told you it wasn't poison ivy!
~Stella
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