Well, irritates. I first came across wild parsnip 9 years and 11 months ago while canoeing the Nahanni River. Evidently, it's spreading and is showing up in other areas. While nasty to us, bears like to eat the roots, so if you see this stuff in the wild, you might see a bear if it's just the right time in the season. I'd been warned of the bear risk when paddling the Nahanni, but the irritation factor was not well known. It affected 9 out of 12 paddlers in our group all from one wander into the woods for a hot spring swim. It prevented some from hiking a couple of days later while the big blisters healed :-(. If you think it looks like Queen Anne's Lace, that's because it's in the same family. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070621134058.htm Mike *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
We have them around here in the NE as well. I recollect a day on the Esopus in the Catskills when a bunch of us got the blisters and the irritation. It's a curious mechanism in that the oils from breaks get onto your skin but do nothing until they are activated by UV rays (i.e. sunlight) -- then you get it. Means there could be a further delayed reaction if it's on your clothes... We called it Poison Parsnip but checking into some books I see there's 4-5 species possible. No idea at this point which species it really was. Joe P. > [Original Message] > From: Michael Daly > Subject: [Paddlewise] Parsnip that eats paddlers. > > Well, irritates. > I first came across wild parsnip 9 years and 11 months ago while > canoeing the Nahanni River. Evidently, it's spreading and is showing up > in other areas. > > While nasty to us, bears like to eat the roots, so if you see this stuff > in the wild, you might see a bear if it's just the right time in the > season. I'd been warned of the bear risk when paddling the Nahanni, but > the irritation factor was not well known. It affected 9 out of 12 > paddlers in our group all from one wander into the woods for a hot > spring swim. It prevented some from hiking a couple of days later while > the big blisters healed :-(. > > If you think it looks like Queen Anne's Lace, that's because it's in the > same family. > > http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070621134058.htm > > Mike *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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