# Lady Slipper Rash?



## SlipperFan (Jul 12, 2011)

Has anyone heard of this? http://www.thymewilltell.com/slipper.html
"...So please don't try to dig them from the wild. You may be sorry if you do, as lady slippers can cause a skin rash on susceptible individuals!"

A friend of mine said his was weeding his Cyp. reginae patch, brushing his right arm against the plant as he weeded, and got this rash which is much like poison ivy.

A few more references:
http://www.friendsofjamaicapond.org/PinkLadysSlipper.html
http://www.gardeningclub.com/all-ab...ype/articleview/articleid/491/lady39s-slipper
http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/parks/kidsthings/natthing200805/ladyslipper0508/tabid/20216/Default.aspx
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/lewisandclark/record_species_232_9_9.html


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## Heather (Jul 12, 2011)

I have heard of that!


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## Ray (Jul 12, 2011)

Certainly. You get the rash from the stress of knowing you're digging up a plant that you should not be....


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## cnycharles (Jul 12, 2011)

Ray said:


> Certainly. You get the rash from the stress of knowing you're digging up a plant that you should not be....



well, someone dug up some plants from one of the preserves I visit, hope they got that rash

yes, yellow and showy ladyslipper leaves can cause a rash though I've never gotten that close to find out


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## koshki (Jul 12, 2011)

Good thing I didn't know about this when I asked my DH to plant mine this past spring! Gee, honey, I don't know what that rash is................


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## Eric Muehlbauer (Jul 12, 2011)

I've heard of that. I've certainly never had problems handling reginae when planting it...I'm tempted to brush my arms over it now to see if anything would happen...but I won't. Then again, I usually don't react to poison ivy....


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## SlipperFan (Jul 12, 2011)

Eric Muehlbauer said:


> I've heard of that. I've certainly never had problems handling reginae when planting it...I'm tempted to brush my arms over it now to see if anything would happen...but I won't. Then again, I usually don't react to poison ivy....



My friend said he'd never had a reaction to reginae before...


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## Rick (Jul 12, 2011)

Then again (probably because there's enough phytochemical to cause a skin reaction) the Native Americans used some of the lady slippers for medicine.

I think the pink's were popularly used for stomach ailments.


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## Leo Schordje (Jul 12, 2011)

In my case, brushing up against a few Cyp reginae while photographing them in Minnesota a decade ago, I had a very mild reaction. It was the hairs on the stems and leaves, the irritation was similar to but much, much milder than stinging nettles. When I grew one at home (from Carson Whitlow, not collected) I never had the reaction again. But there are times when the hairs on the stems seem to be sharp, like tiny needles. If you have sensitive skin, it could be a mild problem.


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## likespaphs (Jul 12, 2011)

i think a common name for that used to be nerve root


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## TyroneGenade (Jul 13, 2011)

Revenge of the plants...

I have big arguments with animal ethics people. They feel that plants don't have "standing" because they can't "feel" (whatever the hell that is, you can't seem to get them to pin down a decent definition). A while back there was a problem in one of the game reserves with the antelope dying. Turns out that the first group of antelope would graze on the Acacia trees and move on. In the mean time the first plant would generate a stress response (i.e. feel stressed) and it passed this message on to the nearby trees so they also started producing poison. So when the antelope arrived at the next tree in the thicket the tree was ready for it. 

Where normally they would graze and move onto the next unsuspecting tree now the trees knew they were coming. Many a lazy antelope mets its doom by the communicating trees.


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## Leo Schordje (Jul 13, 2011)

The mechanism is chemical, the stressed trees exude a chemical that triggers the creation of the toxin in neighboring trees. This is not 'communication' in the sense it is normally used, there is a better term, but I forget what it is. The result is the same, gastric distress for the antelope.


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## Shiva (Jul 13, 2011)

Leo Schordje said:


> The mechanism is chemical, the stressed trees exude a chemical that triggers the creation of the toxin in neighboring trees. This is not 'communication' in the sense it is normally used, there is a better term, but I forget what it is. The result is the same, gastric distress for the antelope.



It was more than gastric stress, it killed the animals. As for communicating, they certainly can't communicate as we do, but that doesn't mean they can't communicate. The truth is, we know next to nothing about plant ''intelligence''. There is a great documentary on the subject. It's called In the Mind of Plants. 

By the way, our kind of communication is also chemical. It all comes down to chemical processes in our brain.


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## NYEric (Jul 13, 2011)

Yes, I have heard of this but have never had any reaction except joy from ladyslippers! 



cnycharles said:


> yes, yellow and showy ladyslipper leaves can cause a rash though I've never gotten that close to find out


Really!? oke:


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## cnycharles (Jul 13, 2011)

cnycharles said:


> yes, yellow and showy ladyslipper leaves can cause a rash though I've never gotten that close to find out





NYEric said:


> Really!? oke:



there's usually a lens between me and the plants (except for the unfortunate times I accidentally step on something...)
plus I don't go rubbing myself with them if I can help it!


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## Rick (Jul 13, 2011)

NYEric said:


> Yes, I have heard of this but have never had any reaction except joy from ladyslippers!
> 
> 
> Really!? oke:




And you thought it was just chiggers Ericoke:oke:

I would have suffered chiggers to go see those ladyslippers though!


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## NYEric (Jul 14, 2011)

I'm not allergic to poison ivy or cypripediums!


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## Candace (Jul 14, 2011)

Interesting..I've never heard of this before.


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## TyroneGenade (Jul 14, 2011)

Shiva said:


> By the way, our kind of communication is also chemical. It all comes down to chemical processes in our brain.



I suppose ,to keep the physicists happy, we say it all comes down to electrical potentials, i.e., atomic forces.

Communication is communication. Once a slipper rubs you up the wrong way you will get the message regardless how it was communicated.

I will be more careful with my slippers in future...oke:


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## fundulopanchax (Jul 14, 2011)

If I am transplanting young plants and do a lot of them sometimes I get a slight rash with itching on my hands - certainly worth it to interact with the plants!

Ron


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## Paphluvr (Oct 21, 2011)

*Rash from Cyp. reginae*

On page 85 of Fred Case's book "Orchids of the Western Great Lakes Region" he has a caution at the top of the page warning of exactly this. I personally don't have a sensitivity to them (I've taken pictures of them in-situ) but find it a good idea to carry Fels Napha soap with me when visiting the bog as poison sumac grows there as well. When you're getting stuck in the muck you'll grab on to anything!

Keep up the good work with the excellent photos, Dot!


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## SlipperFan (Oct 21, 2011)

Thanks, Paphluvr! Welcome to Slippertalk. Why not tell us a little about you and your collection in the "Greetings" section?


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## Lanmark (Oct 21, 2011)

Paphluvr said:


> On page 85 of Fred Case's book "Orchids of the Western Great Lakes Region" he has a caution at the top of the page warning of exactly this. I personally don't have a sensitivity to them (I've taken pictures of them in-situ) but find it a good idea to carry *Fels Napha* soap with me when visiting the bog as poison sumac grows there as well. When you're getting stuck in the muck you'll grab on to anything!
> 
> Keep up the good work with the excellent photos, Dot!



My mother still keeps a bar of Fels Naptha on hand for spot treating her laundry.
I thought she was the only remaining person in the world to use it! :wink:


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## cnycharles (Oct 21, 2011)

I've got some of that liquid soap you can either put on your hands before going outside, or wash with if you've 'gotten into something'. just a little further south from here the poison sumac trees are happy in the calcareous fens... at least those trees, the leaf petioles are bright red.... though if you brush firmly against one when there aren't any leaves out you will still get the rash


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## SlipperFan (Oct 21, 2011)

Lanmark said:


> My mother still keeps a bar of Fels Naptha on hand for spot treating her laundry.
> I thought she was the only remaining person in the world to use it! :wink:



I have a bar of Fels Naptha in my green house, and one in my laundry. When I used to grow roses, I would grate a bar, put it into a jar, fill it with water until it dissolved into a paste. Then I'd scoop out about a teaspoonful and dissolve it in a gallon of water and spray it on the roses. It helped control blackspot and powdery mildew. My husband's grandmother told me this trick.


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## Lanmark (Oct 21, 2011)

SlipperFan said:


> I have a bar of Fels Naptha in my green house, and one in my laundry. When I used to grow roses, I would grate a bar, put it into a jar, fill it with water until it dissolved into a paste. Then I'd scoop out about a teaspoonful and dissolve it in a gallon of water and spray it on the roses. It helped control blackspot and powdery mildew. My husband's grandmother told me this trick.


I'll have to remember this! Tea Roses are another passion of mine. I hope to grow them again someday.


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