A Little Food For Thought From The Southern Woods

[Mistwalker]

It is common knowledge that when looking for kindling and fuel in wet conditions, to look up rather than down. Wood off of the ground will be dryer than wood on the ground, even if it is raining at the time because the water drains off of it rather than soaking in, especially if the bark is intact.

But here in the south, and particularly here in the southern parts of the East Appalachian Temperate Rain Forest, it pays to do more than just glance up, and can even be a little hazardous at night. We have a lot of vines in this area. Some are nothing to worry about. But some can be cause for concern.

Dry dead brier vines hanging in the breeze make awesome kindling, and burn well, but just reaching up and yanking on them in the dark can be a little rough on the hands.

Plus, just because a broken twig is off the ground, that in and of itself does not mean it is a good choice for fuel.

It pays to look close when you are gathering your materials, some can create a toxic smoke to any allergic to the urushiol oils in poison ivy.

The urushiol oils in poison oak, poison ivy, and poison sumac are not consumed by the flames of the fire, they are atomized in the steam and vapor. Anyone who is allergic to it who breaths this smoke can develop a serious or even fatal rash in the throat and lungs. It may seem like I bring this up a lot, but a story recently told to me by a friend who is a nurse in a local ICU broke my heart and made me want to post it again. Poison ivy is not just a concern in the growing season for those who are allergic to it, and it doesn't even have to be a living vine. The oils stay present in dead vines for a very long time.


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[neeman]

Thanks

Please can you start a new thread called
Burning Poison Ivy can be fatal
And include these identification photos

Otherwise it gets lost in another thread

 

[Woodrow F Call]

Thanks for sharing.

 

[6shooter]

Did not know that, thanks for the post.

 

[--J]

Good insightful post Mistwalker, thanks for the knowledge. I don't react to poison Oak or Ivy, and chances are I've made that mistake before, especially on a winter camp, and I sure would hate to mess up a fellow camper.

 

[Don M]

I know two different people who ended up in the hospital after burning brush that contained poison ivy. Always good to be sure what you are burning.

 

[Mistwalker]

Thanks guys, glad you liked the post.

Thanks

Please can you start a new thread called
Burning Poison Ivy can be fatal
And include these identification photos

Otherwise it gets lost in another thread

I will work on that with a complete set of ID photos in different seasons and stages.

 

[WILLIAM.M]

Great post my Brother!!!

 

[TheGame]

I didn't know that about poison Ivy/Oak/Sumac. I'm immune to it as far as I know. (Walked through it so many times, never got it). Glad I never burnt it though. That would be a bad time to find out I wasn't immune to it anymore. Thanks for this post, Mist.

 

[SaturatedShadow]

All good information, Mist.

What species is that thorny vine? I don't recognize it, not something we have here in Missouri.

 

[Mistwalker]

Great post my Brother!!!

Thanks Bill, glad you liked it!

I didn't know that about poison Ivy/Oak/Sumac. I'm immune to it as far as I know. (Walked through it so many times, never got it). Glad I never burnt it though. That would be a bad time to find out I wasn't immune to it anymore. Thanks for this post, Mist.

It can be really bad, especially for the young.

All good information, Mist.

What species is that thorny vine? I don't recognize it, not something we have here in Missouri.

Thanks man. Ya know, even with as many scars as this stuff has given me over the years I have never really bothered with identifying it by name...just by site I really should do that. Yeah, but we don't have honey locust around these parts

 

[fmajor007]

Great post Mist!

A good reminder for some and excellent new info for others about the dangers of plants with this oil - particularly as we will soon be heading into Spring and begin visiting the forests again.

When i was younger, i had no ill effect from coming into contact with poison ivy (urushiol oil). However, at some point in life i developed an allergy to it (like most humans) and had a nasty reaction to it on my lower legs/ankles.

As Neeman mentioned, I'd also suggest either re-titling the post or maybe, collectively, we could start a new thread/sticky with lots of photo's.

 

[bacpacker]

Excellent post MW! The vines and oil is something I have ran into on our place. I had never had any reaction to poision ivy, oak, or sumac up to this point. But I had a tree fall during a summer storm and got to cutting it up. There were a bunch of thick vines (1" and larger) running along the trunk, without giving it any thought while wearing a t-shirt ans weating profusly, I got sawdust all over my arms. After spending the day cleaning all this up. I went it to take a shower and was already seeing some red spots/welts rising. I didn't really give it much thought, but by the next morning I was in misery and ended up going tot he Dr to get treatment for it. I've heard of other getting the smoke treatment and paying dearly for it. This is certainly one area to pay attention to.

At first glance I thought the thorny vine may have been locust, but from what you mentionede I guess not. Sure look like it would tear your hands up if you yanked on it though.

 

[Raining]

Mistwalker, I like the idea of seeing pictures of the different stages of poison ivy - looking forward to that thread. Great reminder. :thumbup:

Do you have jewelweed in your area?

 

[SaturatedShadow]

Yeah, but we don't have honey locust around these parts

You Tennessee boys are missing out.

 

[Mudbug007]

What species is that thorny vine? I don't recognize it, not something we have here in Missouri.

I can promise you that there are briars in Missouri! Not sure the exact species of briar, but this may help. Merriwether's Guide To Edible Plants - and no, I didn't know they were edible until I saw this page...learn something new all the time!

 

[SaturatedShadow]

I can promise you that there are briars in Missouri! Not sure the exact species of briar, but this may help. Merriwether's Guide To Edible Plants - and no, I didn't know they were edible until I saw this page...learn something new all the time!

You may be right. I'm familiar with greenbriar, but didn't recognize it at first from the above pictures. It may very well be greenbriar. I was quite excited to see a thorny plant that we don't have, but alas, it isn't so.

 

[--J]

As a few others have mentioned, it would be great to see a sticky that would help folks ID these plants. I've made hundreds of fires in my life and like I've said earlier I more than likely have burned some, more than likely as kindling but even that could have hurt somebody. And in hindsight, I have probably used the vines for cover use in winter shelters 'cause they make...I mean made, a great material for weaving in the pine bows. I sure will be sticking to grape vines etc for that now.
I'll say it again Mistwalker, thanks for the knowledge, very much appreciated.

 

[saxon]

Here in the Western NC mountains poison ivy vines on the trees can get huge. It is always an issue for me when I gather wood or do any foraging. I have found the vines running through the grass in the yard like spruce roots. I've knelt on them picking our black berries and never even saw them till I noticed the rash coming on. Strange how all of the finest lacquer work in Asia including the lacquer on katana saya is made from pure urushi oil. When it's correctly polymerized it becomes inert. I'm very glad that we don't have the wild fire problem in this state that we had out west. It would be deadly if a big fire ever got going here.

 

[untamed]

Thanks for sharing indeed, especially the part about burning leaves of certain plants which can be fatal.