hogweed parsnip burn - or - phytophotodermatitis (PPD)

While phytophotodermatitis is mentioned, briefly, in three threads on permies:

Cow Parsnip, the other evil weed
Heracleum mantegazzianum (giant hogweed) -- you NEED to know about and recognize this toxic plant
Eating the weeds in My Garden and other inedible things?

I thought it deserved a thread all on its own.

This excellent blog post, Parsnip Burn - My Worst Gardening Mistake goes into details about what it is, how it happens, how to prevent it, AND how to make your own salves to treat it. Kudos to this blogger! And hattip to our friends at Pantry Paratus for sharing this blog on their Facebook page.

The blog is full of pictures of the blisters and rash from the parsnip burn, which are not pretty, so I won't link to them here. (You're welcome. ) Here's their salve image:



According to the blog,

Plants that may cause phytophotodermatitis include (but are not limited to):

Parsnips

Carrots

Celery

Parsley

Wild Parsnip

Queen Anne’s Lace (Wild Carrot)

Giant Hogweed

Limes

Figs

Have you had parsnip burn before?

What precautions, if any, do you take?

Now I'm kinda wondering if some of the fire ant bites I've gotten where I looked later and thought "wow, I don't even remember being bit' were in fact from exposure to hedge parsley.

Casie Becker wrote:Now I'm kinda wondering if some of the fire ant bites I've gotten where I looked later and thought "wow, I don't even remember being bit' were in fact from exposure to hedge parsley.

Hm, I've never heard of hedge parsley before and had to look it up. Is it Torilis arvensis? We have some as yet unidentified umbel-type weeds here that we are thinking is in the parsley/Apiaceae family - maybe they are hedge parsley.

I got one of these burns apparently from poison hemlock. I originally thought I had somehow gotten into poison ivy. Parts of the burn became infected and now I have scars on my arm.

http://texasinvasives.org/plant_database/detail.php?symbol=COMA2

I'm not entirely sure, this is my current best identification of the predominate weed in my garden. It's an early spring annual umbel that grows about three feet (including flowers) if it's uncut, but survives to produce short flowers if mowed. After going to flower it quickly develops seed burs that attach to fabric, covering all socks and shoelaces. It smells like parsley when mowed.

When we had a rabbit they were her absolute favorite food. She liked everything from the young seedlings to the dried out plant stalks and would carefully pull the seeds off one at a time to eat like little pieces of rabbit candy.

Tyler Ludens wrote:I got one of these burns apparently from poison hemlock. I originally thought I had somehow gotten into poison ivy. Parts of the burn became infected and now I have scars on my arm.

http://texasinvasives.org/plant_database/detail.php?symbol=COMA2

Uff! That's some serious burns! So sorry to hear that!

Casie Becker wrote:I'm not entirely sure, this is my current best identification of the predominate weed in my garden. It's an early spring annual umbel that grows about three feet (including flowers) if it's uncut, but survives to produce short flowers if mowed. After going to flower it quickly develops seed burs that attach to fabric, covering all socks and shoelaces. It smells like parsley when mowed.

When we had a rabbit they were her absolute favorite food. She liked everything from the young seedlings to the dried out plant stalks and would carefully pull the seeds off one at a time to eat like little pieces of rabbit candy.

You just painted the cutest day-in-the-life of a rabbit image for me! Thank you.

It'll be interesting if this topic helps you prevent those "wow, I don't even remember being bit" spots on your skin from happening.