Another Wood Identity Puzzle

[Maurice Mcmurry]

That seems solved. Here is another "identify wood" puzzler. It is an irritating joke and riddle. The clue is "irritating"
I am also looking for humorous ideas regarding what to make out of this wood.
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[Andrew Hughes]

I think you have enough there to make a good fire.:)

[Maurice Mcmurry]

It is Poison Ivy. I have stoped burning it. I think I will make an eight sided frame for the picture of our daughter when she blew up like Violet Beauregarde after swinging on a similar vine.




https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRdRFr7834_yuMVjGQMHLPXHnm-nIltHN782hR37HO92g&s
(https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&sxsrf=APq-WBtngY_hZKiUkwKkMqQN5nqdyakC_Q:1643913180546&q=Who+blew+up+like+a+balloon+in+Charlie+and+the+Ch ocolate+Factory?&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&vet=1&fir=ckxoHL_500p34M%252CvJQVJw7Iv78ZxM%252C_&usg=AI4_-kSvyBTHOMzER_wqWAV0Sgt_9UeMew&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwif0qvpleT1AhWSkIkEHUGdCTsQ9QF6BAgIEAE#i mgrc=ckxoHL_500p34M)








Violet Beauregard

[John Goodin]

Just throwing this out there but could it be butternut?

[Bill Dufour]

A friend of my fathers cut sticks to roast marshmallows on in the winter? She said their throats swelled up. No antihistamines back then. Whiskey soaked rag over then throat was the only treatment.
Do not breathe the dust. do not burn it. Vitamin C is supposed to help
Bill D

[Maurice Mcmurry]

I cut this up just for a gag and to see what is like. It had been dead for over a year. I wore full protection including a respirator. I have not found any data on how long it stays poison. I rubbed some sawdust and wood on a small spot on my wrist with no ill effects. It does look like butternut or sassafras. it is very light, soft, and weak. There are some even bigger (4 inches) still hanging in the woods. I cut them off at the ground and Tordon the stumps, then go wash up immediately. We had the unfortunate experience of accidentally getting some in a cook fire too, very unpleasant.

[Andrew Seemann]

I seem to recall poison ivy/oak/sumac can stay dangerous for years after the plant dies, and for sensitive people it can be decades. The urushiol oil has to break down for it to be safe, and it only takes something like a billionth of a gram to cause a reaction.

I avoid using RoundUp if possible, but I hit the poison ivy with it hard whenever I see it in the yard.

I've never seen it get woody like that though. Here it always dies off to the ground in the winter. I don't recall seeing mult-year old plants. Apparently -20F is good for something:)

[Maurice Mcmurry]

I will post an image of the last of our poison ivy "trees". I also do not use herbicide on anything but poison ivy.

[John K Jordan]

I will post an image of the last of our poison ivy "trees". I also do not use herbicide on anything but poison ivy.

The traditional thing to make from poison ivy wood is Mother-in-Law spoons. Or so it’s said.

Poison ivy will grow as a ground cover, shrub, or vine. I’ve had vines close to 6” diameter in huge poplar trees. The most interesting is when vines grow thick to the top of a dead tree and put out so many horizontal branches the tree looks alive and leafy (until the support tree rots and falls over.

Llamas goats, and other animals love to eat poison ivy leaves and vines.

If I touch or handle the leaves or vines with bate hands I get no reaction if I wash the area soon (within 15 minutes or so) with soap and water, or even just water if i’m away from the house.

When I moved to this property there were large poison ivy, wild grape vines, and even virginia creeper in many big trees. Easy to id the poison over by the hairy “roots” gripping the yree bark. I chop all vines with a machete near the ground and let the vine rot. When I walk through the woods I cut every vine I see, even very small ones. However they will eventually grow back. If a section is painted with Garlon they will die and not grow back. But Garlon is getting hard to find. (I use Garlon on the invasive and prolific Ailanthus trees and saplings too.)

One odd thing - almost everyone in this area thinks Virginia Creeper is poison oak. Can’t imagine how that got started since the leaves are very different. They are shocked when tell them it’s not and pull off some leaves and rub them over my face.

[Maurice Mcmurry]

Mother-in-law spoon is the kind of humor I had in mind. How about a miniature rack for the Medieval Torture Museum (our kids are in St Augustine FL, I wish I could un-look at those pictures).

[Jim Becker]

Poison ivy will grow as a ground cover, shrub, or vine. I’ve had vines close to 6” diameter in huge poplar trees. The most interesting is when vines grow thick to the top of a dead tree and put out so many horizontal branches the tree looks alive and leafy (until the support tree rots and falls over.
We had similar to this at our old property...some of the really old vines were "yuge" in diameter, having been living and growing for many, many decades. So far, I have only found a very small amount of the stuff here at the new place and only at the base of one pine tree that's covered with "regular" ivy in the way you mention...the top of the tree is more ivy than pine at this point. LOL

[Maurice Mcmurry]

Sheep love to eat it too. It is one of the first plants they go for in a fresh paddock. Wood Peckers are destroying some of the vines I killed last summer, this makes me even more concerned about using herbicide. I think better keep a dedicated poison ivy patch for bio-diversity.

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[Jim Becker]

. I think better keep a dedicated poison ivy patch for bio-diversity.


Just keep in mind that the ivy doesn't understand the concept of "dedicated"...and neither do the birds that distribute the beans/seeds nor the root runners that sprout new vines as they travel underground. It's VERY opportunistic!