Toxicodendron radicans

Poor Mr. L! While attacking his yard full of weeds, we apparently unearthed the wicked, vile weed known as poison ivy or (for those scientifically inclined or MENSA folks) Toxicodendron radicans. He has been suffering for 2 weeks now, and is on his way to the doctor today to get a steroid shot in the bum.

I, (knock on wood), have never suffered an attack of the T. rads, but understand that it can be pretty terrible. According to the source of all knowledge, wikipedia, people who develop rashes from T. rads are actually suffering from an allergic reaction and approximately 15-30% of people are allergic to it. Apparently, one of the worst things to do is to pull it up by the root, and that, my friends, is what Mr. L and I unknowingly did.

After my wikipedia "research," I found a picture of the poison ivy root:

and I remember the EXACT moment we encountered it. We were hacking down limbs and weeds, and Mr. L exclaimed, "Look at that crazy root growing into my power meter." I think I remember calling it 'creepy' and saying that it looked more like an animal than a plant. I mean, look at that horrible, nasty thing! I distinctly remember an ominous feeling when I saw that root, and now I know why.

Anyway, it was stuck so firmly on the brick that we had to get a garden hoe to pry it off. We successfully unpeeled it from the side of his house and pulled it up by the root (oops!). I think Mr. L hauled the pile of limbs that contained the T. rads root, and the rest is history...

Well, now we know, right? After I saw the picture of the root on the web, I quickly phoned Mr. L to let him know that I identified the culprit of his distress. He was waiting to get his shot. Poor, poor Mr. L. I think we will go shopping for matching coveralls this weekend to prevent a travesty like this from reoccurring. (That will be a sight....Mr. L and I in matching jumpsuits working in his yard. Maybe we can get orange ones to get that 'stay-away-I'm-a- convict-on-a-work-release-and-I'm-dangerous' look)

On a side note, apparently "Poison Ivy" is also the name of a super hero, or a super villain, because when I conducted an image search for it I found a lot of pictures of her:

She may be cute, but she'll give you one hell of a rash....