Allergenic plants (?) question

[Dr Stephen L. Jury]

This may have been a species of Ruta or the wild Bituminaria bituminosa
(syn. Psoralea bituminosa, Leguminosae) amongst a number of Mediterranean
species producing such reactions. There are a number of genera with
furanocoumarins which cause such problems, the more famous perhaps
Heracleum mantegazzianum, Giant Hogweed, and other Heracleums as well as
Pastinaca spp. Did You encounter any of these Jan?
Stephen L. Jury

At 17:56 04/08/00 +0000, you wrote:
>Jan,
>     It may have been poison ivy.  I believe it was introduced into European
>gardens long ago due to certain medicinal properties (treating rheumatism?).
>  It probably isn't common in Europe, but I think it does occur there.
>                         ------Ken Kinman
>********************************************************
>>From: Jan Bosselaers <dochterland at VILLAGE.UUNET.BE>
>>Reply-To: Jan Bosselaers <dochterland at VILLAGE.UUNET.BE>
>>To: TAXACOM at USOBI.ORG
>>Subject: Allergenic plants (?) question
>>Date: Fri, 4 Aug 2000 14:52:10 +0200
>>
>>Dear Taxacomers,
>>
>>Just a quick question:
>>three weeks ago, a few hours after visiting Salvador Dali's grave and
>>the garden of his wife's castle in Pubol, Catalunya, I discovered an
>>erythematous rash on my left hand, very similar to the poison Ivy rash I
>>got after collecting spiders in the woods in Illinois: four parallel
>>lines of small, red blisters. Even now, three weeks later, it has not
>>healed completely. This time too, I had been collecting spiders in
>>cypress trees and bushes in the neighbourhood of Pubol and in Ullastret.
>>
>>Does anyone have an idea what might have caused this rash? I know that
>>allergenic, urushiol containing Anacardiaceae occur in Korea, China,
>>Australia and Japan, but I know of none in Europe.
>>Could it be something else, like hairy caterpillars? There were some
>>white, cotton-like tufts in the cypress trees, they were not spider
>>webs.
>>Or might the grand master, as one of his many practical jokes, have
>>planted some foreign allergenic plants in his garden?
>>
>>Regards,
>>
>>Jan
>>-------------------------------------------------------------
>>Jan Bosselaers
>>"Dochterland", R. novarumlaan 2
>>B-2340 Beerse, Belgium                       tel 32-14-615896
>>home: dochterland at village.uunet.be      fax 32-14-610306
>>work: jbossela at janbe.jnj.com
>>web: http://gallery.uunet.be/Dochterland/
>>"Otium sine litteris mors est et hominis vivi sepultura" Seneca
>>(Spare time without reading is like being buried alive)
>________________________________________________________________________
>Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dr Stephen L. Jury
Euro+Med Secretariat
Centre for Plant Diversity and Systematics
Plant Science Laboratories
The University of Reading
Whiteknights
PO Box 221
Reading
RG6 6AS
UK

email: s.l.jury at reading.ac.uk
tel. (0118) 931 8169, overseas +44 118 931 8169
Secretary (0118) 931 8160, overseas +44 118 931 8160
fax (0118) 975 3676, overseas +44 118 975 3676

http://www.herbarium.rdg.ac.uk/EuroMed/Euro+Med.html
------------------------------------------------------------------------------