AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF POISON OAK

Abstract

While it is true that poison oak and its sister plants have rarely, if ever, caused a death, it is also true that a large majority of people living in the temperate zones find their enjoyment of the country seriously curtailed by the menace of these noxious plants. And besides this restriction of healthful pleasures, there is an unestimated monetary loss to laborers and construction companies operating in infested regions, which I am sure is not inconsiderable. Yet in spite of these well-known facts, very little has been attempted, and still less accomplished, to abate this wide-spread evil. SKETCH OF PLANT The plants specially referred to are poison oak (Rhus diversiloba), poison ivy (R. toxicodendron) and poison sumach (R. venenata), which form a widely distributed group. The poison ivy¹ is found in abundance throughout the United States as far west as eastern Texas, eastern Kansas and Minnesota, and in