A History of First Contact with Poison Ivy

Fifteen years ago I finishing my junior year of high school and I was starting to think about where I would want to attend college.  Around that time I chanced upon The George Washington University's website, which advertised that GW's graduation took place "on the front lawn of the White House" (actually on the Ellipse, a slight inaccuracy).  With that, I was sold.  I already knew I wanted an urban setting.  I ended up only appling to colleges in Washington, New York, and Boston.  UConn was the one exception, as a safety school.  My classmates warned me based on stories from their older siblings that Storrs, CT was a rural hell, where our only options for the next four years would be class and cow-tipping.

Although it was partially the excitement and amenities of city life which attracted me to these schools, another definite reason was that I was determined to avoid my reoccurring poison ivy rashes.  Since elementary school, I lost on average a week or two each year to severe poison ivy rashes.  I have terrible, hyper-allergic reactions - eyes swollen shut, my skin weeping pillow-staining orange fluid.  Once I even needed a shot I had it so bad.  Poison ivy was the reason I stopped going camping - catching poison ivy was almost guaranteed - and never wanted to go to sleep-away camp.  I completely ruled enlisting in the army based on my susceptibility, and in general limited as much as possible any outdoors activity.  Moving to the southwest desert seemed really attractive, or even more preferably, to a concrete urban jungle, where no green thing would grow.  I've been a city boy ever since I left Norwalk, and I've only gotten rashes twice since.  Once when I was visiting home during summer vacation, and again most recently in 2010 on the Blackstone River Bikeway in Rhode Island.

Over the past month, my walk to work has exploded in green.  Vines are creeping along fences where they weren't several weeks ago.  I can tell they're not poison ivy but they make me nervous.  In the final 10 minutes of my walk, I skirt through a mini nature trail in the Fresh Pond reservation.  In the woods there I see lots of suspicious vines.  They make me very scared, and I walk down the middle of the cement walkway with my arms folded in.

Last week, I started wondering how people lived here 400 years ago when everything was woods and poison ivy was possibly even more widespread.  Those first explorers must have been just as susceptible to it, yet lacked Cortisol steroids or air conditioners once they got the rash.  They'd get the same terrible reaction I experienced but they would still need to go deer hunting if they didn't want to starve.  I'm not aware of any such poisonous plant in Europe and so the this was just one more scary story about the New World they were inhabiting, along with cannibals, Satan's witches, and plants that make you ooze.

One day at my workstation I started poking around into first contact writings about poison ivy.  I found exactly what I was looking for when I located an article titled "An Anecdotal Biographical History of Poison Ivy" by Adolph Rostenberg, M.D., appearing in the Archives of Dermatology ([1955, 72(5): 438-445].  Dr. Rostenberg relays that the first reference in the English language to Poison Ivy was actually written by Captain John Smith, of Pocahontas fame, in his 1624 book, The Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles. Smith wrote:

"The poisoned weed is much in shape like our English ivy, but being but touched, causeth redness, itching, and lastly, blisters, and which, howsoever, after a while pass away of themselves, without further harm; yet because for the time they are somewhat painful, it hath got itself an ill name, although questionless of no ill nature."

This passage is also the origin of the plant's common name, "poison ivy". Rostenberg commented anyone who has actually had a case of poison ivy would probably believe Smith was being "extremely charitable" in using the phrase "questionless of no ill nature". Rostenberg next draws from a report ("An account of the Poyson Wood Tree in New-England") written by Massachusetts-man Paul Dudley and submitted in a letter to the Royal Society around 1720:

"The Poyson-Wood-Tree grows only in Swamps, or low wet Grounds, and is something like a small Ash, but much more like a Sumach, and therefore is by some called the Swamp Sumach, for the Twiggs, Leaves, and Shape are exactly like the Sumach, and it likewise bears a dry Berry. It never grows bigger than a Man's Leg, nor taller than Alder, but spreads much, and several together, especially about the Stump or Roots of one that is cut down; as it is of quick growth, so it does not last long; the inside of the Wood is yellow and very full of Juice, as glutinous as Honey or Turpentine; the Wood itself has a very strong unsavory Smell, but the Juice stinks as bad as Carrion. Having thus described the Tree, we shall now proceed to give an account of its Poisonous Quality, etc.

1. And first, it must be observed that it poysons two ways, either by touching or handling of it, or by the Smell; for the Scent of it, when cut down in the Woods, or on the Fire, has poisoned Persons to a very great degree. One of my Neighbours was blind for above a Week together, with only handling it. And a Gentleman in the Country, sitting by his Fire-side in the Winter, was swelled for several Days with the Smoak or Flame of some Poyson-Wood that was in the Fire.  
2. A second thing to be remarked of the Poyson-Wood is, that it has this effect only on some particular Persons and Constitutions; for I have seen my own Brother not only handle, but chew it without any harm at all. And so by the same Fire one shall be poysoned and another not at all affected.
3. But then Thirdly, this sort of Poyson is never Mortal, and will go off in a few Days of it self, like the Sting of a Bee; but generally the Person applies Plantain Water, or Sallet-Oyl and Cream. 
4. As to its Operation, within a few Hours after the Person is poysoned, he feels an itching Pain that provokes a Scratching, which is followed by an Inflammation and Swelling; sometimes a Man's Legs only have been poysoned, and have run with Water.

My Neighbour that was so sadly poysoned with handling it, told me one thing very remarkable of the Wood, and that is, that when he touched it, he plainly perceiv'd it to differ from the other Wood, that he was throwing up into his Cart; for it was as cold as a piece of Ice; and withal assured me, he could distinguish it blindfold, or in the dark, from any other Wood in the World, by its Coldness; but the poor Man is as much afraid of it, when he goes into the Woods, as of a Rattle-Snake. He further tells me, that he felt an itching in a few Hours after he had handled the Wood, but the swelling did not come on till in about three days."

The first known illustration of Poison Ivy from Jacques Philippe Cornut's Canadensium Plantarum Historia (1635)

Rostenberg's final colonial-era description comes from Peter Kalm's Travels in North America. Kalm was sent to New World on behalf of Sweden in 1748 to to report on plants located there. Kalm talks in several places about poison ivy, and Rostenberg quotes his lengthiest account:

"A species of Rhus, which was frequent in the marshes here, was called the poison tree by both English and Swedes. Some of the former gave it the name of swamp-sumach, and my countrymen gave it the same name. Dr. Linnaeus in his botanical works calls it Rhus Vernix. An incision being made into the tree, a whitish yellow juice, which has a nauseous smell, comes out between the bark and the wood. This tree is not known for its good qualities, but greatly so for the effect of its poison, which though it is noxious to some people, yet does not in the least affect others. And therefore one person can handle the tree as he pleases, cut it, peel off its bark, rub it or the wood upon his hands, smell of it, spread the juice upon his skin, and make more experiments, with no inconvenience to himself; another person, on the contrary, dares not meddle with the tree while its wood is fresh, nor can he venture to touch a hand which has handled it, nor even to expose himself to the smoke of a fire which is made with this wood, without soon feeling its bad effects; for the face, the hands, and frequently the whole body, swells excessively, and is affected with a very acute pain. Sometimes bladders or blisters arise in great plenty, and make the sick person look as if he was infected by a leprosy. In some people the external thin skin, or cuticle, peels off in a few days, as is the case when a person has scalded or burnt any part of his body. Nay, the nature of some persons will not even allow them to approach the place where the tree grows, or to expose themselves to the wind, when it carries the effluvia or exhalations of this tree with it, without letting them feel the inconvenience of the swelling, which I have just now described. Their eyes are sometimes shut up for one, or two and more days together, by the swelling. I know two brothers, one of whom could without danger handle this tree in what manner he pleased, whereas the other could not come near it without swelling. A person sometimes does not know that he has touched this poisonous plant, or that he has been near it, before his face and hands shew it by their swelling. I have known old people who were more afraid of this tree than of a viper; and I was acquainted with a person who, merely by the noxious exhalations of it, was swelled to such a degree that he was as stiff as a log of wood, and was turned about in his bed.

On relating, in the winter of the year 1750, the poisonous qualities of the swamp sumach to my [unclear], he only laughed, and looked upon the whole as a fable, in which opinion he was confirmed by his having often handled the tree the autumn before, cut many branches of it, which he had carried for a good while in his hand, in order to preserve its seeds, and put many into the herbáis, and all this without feeling the least inconvenience. He would therefore, being a kind of philosopher in his own way, take nothing for granted of which he had no sufficient proofs, especially as he had his own experience in the summer of the 1749, to support the contrary opinion. But in the next summer his system of philosophy was overturned, for his hands swelled, and he felt a violent pain and itching in his eyes, as soon as he touched the tree, and this inconvenience not only attended him when he meddled with this kind of sumach, but even when he had any thing to do with the rhus radicans, or that species of sumach which climbs along the trees, and is not by far so poisonous as the former. By this adventure he was convinced of the power of the poison tree, that I could not easily persuade him to gether more seeds of it for me. But he not only felt the noxious effects of it in summer, when he was very hot, but even in winter, when both he and the wood were cold. Hence it appears, that though a person be secured against the power of this poison for some time, yet, that in length of time, he may be affected with it, as well as people of a weaker constitution. I have likewise tried experiments of every kind with the poison tree on myself. I have spread its juice upon my hands, cut and broke its branches, peeled off its bark, and rubbed my hands with it, smelt at it, carried pieces of it in my bare hands, and repeated all this frequently without feeling the baneful effects so commonly annexed to it; but I however once experienced that the poison of the sumach was not entirely without effect upon me.

On a hot day in summer, as I was in some degree of perspiration, I cut a branch of the tree, and carried it in my hand for about half an hour together, and smelt at it now and then. I felt no effects from it till in the vening; but next morning I awoke with a violent itching of my eye-lids, and the parts thereabouts; and this was so paineful, that I could hardly keep my hands from it. It ceased after I had washed my eyes for a while with very cold water; but my eye-lids were very stiff all that day; at night the itching returned; and in the morning as I awoke, I felt it as ill as the morning before, and I used the same remedy against it. However, it continued almost for a whole week together, and my eyes were very red, and my eye-lids were with difficulty moved during all that time. My pain ceased entirely afterwards. About the same time, I had spread the juice of the tree very thick upon my hand. Three days after they occasioned blisters, which soon went off without affecting much. I have not experienced any thing more of the effects of this plant, nor had I any desire so to do. However, I found that it could not exert its power upon me when I was not perspiring.

I have never heard that the poison of this sumach has been mortal; but the pain ceases after a few days duration. The natives formerly made their flutes of this tree, because it has a great deal of pith. Some people assured me, that a person suffering from its noisome exhalations, would easily recover by spreading a mixture of the wood burnt to charcoal, and hog's lard, upon the swelled parts. Some asserted that they had really tried this remedy. In some places this tree is rooted out, on purpose that its poison may not affect the workmen. The rhus radicans is a shrub or tree which grows abundantly in this country, and has in common with the ivy, called hederá arbórea, the quality of not growing without the support either of a tree, a wall, or a hedge. I have seen it climbing to the very top of high trees in the woods, and its branches shoot out every where little roots, which fasten upon the tree, and as it were enter into it. When the stem is cut, it emits a pale brown sap of a disagreeable scent. This sap is so sharp that the letters and characters made upon linen with it cannot be got out again, but grow blacker the more the cloth is washed. Boys commonly marked their names on their linen with this juice. If you write with it on paper the letters never go out, but grow blacker from time to time.

This species of sumach has the same noxious qualities as the poisonous sumach, or poison-tree, which I have above described, being poisonous to some people, though not to every one. Therefore all that has been said of the poison-tree is likewise applicable to this; excepting that the former has the stronger poison. However, I have seen people who have been as much swelled from the noxious exhalations of the latter, as they could have been from those of the former. I likewise know, that of two sisters, the one could manage the tree without being affected by its venom, though the other immediately felt it as soon as the exhalations of the tree came near her, or whenever she came a yard too near the tree, and even when she stood in the way of the wind, which blew directly from this shrub. But upon me this species of sumach has never exerted its power; though I made above a hundred experiments upon myself with the greatest stems, and the juice once squirted into my eye, without doing me any harm. On another person's hand, which I had covered very thick with it, the skin, a few hours after, became as hard as a piece of tanned leather, and peeled off in the following days, as if little scales fell from it."

In Just reading those accounts I felt complete empathy for each sufferer. When I started to read the Rostenberg's article, I hoped I might stumble across some old Indian remedy, lost to our modern knowledge.  Instead I found people I can relate to, born centuries earlier, suffering from the same miseries and instilled with the same fear of a plant as me.