Prince Charming & The Wild Parsnip
Doesn't that title sound like the story in the fairytale book that comes just before "Cinderella & Prince Charming?"Here is an adventure story for you:
My Prince Charming leaped out of bed Saturday morning at 7 am like a man with a mission. While I was puttering around doing things like updating my pic on the blog, emptying the dishwasher, entering data in my sister's spreadsheet, and straightening the living room, Prince Charming was planting rose bushes, clearing stumps, pulling weeds, and eventually mowing the lawn.
Well, it seems that when he was working on that stump, he got dosed with a bit of Wild Parsnip sap. It didn't hurt or anything, and to be honest, he was unaware that he had gotten into it. I don't think he even recognized the plant as a hazard. I know that I sure wouldn't have, and I have taken a large number of weed identification courses.
He mowed the lawn after battling the stump, then showered before spending the rest of the day on Lake Wisconsin in a friend's speed boat.
Sunday came and went without incident. But yesterday, Prince Charming had developed a bizarre rash type thing on one of his legs and a small spot on his hand. The rash, if we can call it that, looked like a localized sunburn. There were blisters that looked just like sunburn blisters, and redness that looked like irritation or sunburn. But it was in splotches instead of wide areas like a sunburn would be.
When I got home yesterday, he showed me the affected area and asked what I thought. "Does it itch?" I asked.
"Maybe a little." Prince Charming is a macho man, if he's gushing blood he describes it as a scratch, so I have to put everything he says in perspective.
"Did you get bit when you were out in the ditch on Saturday?"
"I don't think so - but there were a lot of ants crawling around that stump. But if that's what it is, why is it only on one leg?"
"I don't know. But I'll tell you, it doesn't really look like a bug thing to me. It looks like irritation from a plant toxin. What sorts of weeds were you getting into out there?"
"I don't know. A weed is a weed to me."
"Well, wear something loose to work tonight. If it starts itching horribly, I have that lotion upstairs that will ease the irritation."
He went to work last night per usual, but called me early this morning, which was surprising because he had said he was going to work late. He said that he was going to the doctor. Apparently the rash had spread and when his co-workers looked at it, they said poison sumac or poison oak.
The doctor took one look at it and said, "Unh, uhn. That's a wild parsnip burn."
So, in the vein of public service, I warn all of my Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Illinois readers that wild parsnip can be found in your areas. You can find resources here, here, and here.
But, what you need to know is that the sap of the green tissue can burn your skin and develop sunburn type blisters. Doctors, it turns out, are often stumped by what it is. Remind me to thank our apparently top-notch doctor!
The general equation looks like this:
Wild pasnip sap + sensitive skin + ultraviolet light + 24-48 hours = Parsnip Burn.
