If you’re heading out to the wilderness this weekend, beware the poodle-dog!
No, not this poodle-dog . . .
(Photo courtesy of Sarah Arnott at bySarah.com)
THIS poodle-dog!
The Poodle-dog bush that is.
(Photo by Robert Gauthier, Los Angeles Times / July 24, 2011)
This lavender-colored flowering bush, sometimes mistaken for lupine, packs the same poisonous punch as poison oak (or for you east-coasters, poison ivy). It’s sprouting up all over the recently burned areas in the Angeles National Forest. It’s official scientific name is Turricula parryi, and you don’t want to tangle with it.
A recent story in the LA Times, warning of the Poodle-dog bush, describes police officers who were put out of commission for several weeks after an up-close encounter with this plant. It doesn’t sound pretty. Watch for it in burned areas around 5,000 feet. And don’t let your dog wander too close either.
For more info and photos about the Poodle-dog bush, check out this blog, The Garden of Native Plants.
Gawwww gous!
Benny & Lily
A very informative post…thank you guys.
Cute name for a poisonous flower…it also looks beautiful
I know – you don’t expect something so pretty to be so . . . unpleasant!
Ouch!
It’s hard to imagine how a plant could cause someone to be out of commission for several weeks! It definitely sounds worse than poison ivy…
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