I love my gas plant. I got it a couple of years ago and have been so smitten with the citrusy smell of the foliage, the compact and neat form of the plant, as well as the beautiful, long-lasting flower display starting sometime around Memorial Day as most of my tulips are fading away.And I have been reading many posts from other gardeners who have discovered this most awesome plant. Many may even know why it is called a gas plant. The plant emits a flammable vapor; which on calm days, it is said, can actually be lit. It burns a beautiful blue and doesn't hurt the plant. I've never tried it myself, but I believe it.
Now, you may be thinking, "A plant that theoretically could burst into flames? Sign me up!"
But I have a warning for all you gardeners who, like me, have fallen in love with the beautiful gas plant. Bursting into flames isn't the only trick this plant has up it's sleeve.
I found out the hard way that if it can't get you with actual fire, it will attack you with a chemical that is photo sensitive and will actually cause your skin to burn and blister if exposed to sunlight after contact.
This has happened to me two years in a row! Last year when it happened I didn't realize what the blisters and dark markings were actually from. I thought maybe poison ivy, but it wasn't spreading as it notoriously does, and it really didn't itch that much unless I was out in the sun or the area got heated somehow.
The blisters lasted for about a month and the dark marks lasted for a few months. I was actually beginning to think that they might be permanent!
Over the winter, I read a few articles about gas plants to see how to propagate them. That was when I discovered that brushing against their foliage could cause skin irritation. They really didn't get into details about how bad it would irritate your skin, though. I have a few plants in my garden that give me a minor rash that lasts a couple of days if I have too much contact with them - no biggie, right? So, when I was pulling weeds around my gas plant a week ago and got scratched by it, I thought no biggie.
Boy was I wrong! In a couple of days, I had the same welts, blisters and dark markings that I had been plagued with most of last summer! I had even washed my arms after the scratching and that didn't seem to have done much to stop it.On the up side, it doesn't seem to spread (although I am still careful of cross contamination) and calamine does seem to help. Also, although I need to research this a little more, it seems that the volatile chemicals appear with the seed heads. I have touched and brushed up against this plant many times every spring and during flowering and never a reaction. The reaction I got last year was at approximately the same time in June that I got it this year.
I am keeping my plant and haven't completely scrapped the idea of getting a few more (even though my husband is urging me to stay away from them). They are a great plant, I just have to be aware to beware not to be fooled by its beauty; this is one beast of a plant!
an additional article with similar experience Added 05/30/2009
11 comments:
I was ready at first to go out right away and get one. But now you've scared me away. It looks very pretty though.
Marie, it is a pretty nasty irritation, but I think I may have found a remedy for it - and one that can also be found in my garden!
The jewelweed is supposed to be one of the most effective plant chemical neutralizer there is, and I actually didn't get around to ripping it out this year! I have already begun treating with it and I'll post an update on the effectiveness.
I've heard about poison ivy but not gas plant, thanks for the warning tips. Hope your blisters heal faster.
Wow...that plant's a downright criminal! Sure is purty, though.
PS: are you being overrun with earwigs in your part of the state? I am up to my ears in them. Pun sadly intended.
LadySeaShells, the jewelweed did the trick! Right after I used it, the blisters started drying up. I'm going to make sure to take care of my jewelweed patch from now on!
Jess, strangely enough, I would still recommend this plant. As long as a person is aware of its dangers they can easily overcome them - gloves and long sleeves while handling isn't too much to ask to have such a beautiful plant. I need as much handling roses too. Also, growing a big patch of jewelweed wouldn't hurt either!
Haven't noticed any earwigs, but the box elder beetles were really bad this year!
Sylvana - do you know its botanical name? I just want to make sure I don't get one, pretty and all as it is. I could do without the skin decorations that it seems to give so freely.
Hope you are not dying of heat exhaustion yet. Perhaps I could send you just a little bit of frost?
Alice, Dictamnus. It really is pretty and smells nice - citrusy. But I am really regretting weeding around it so carelessly.
It was actually really cool for most of the day today - but it is supposed to be in the high 80s and 90s (F) over the next ten days. So send that frost!!
You know, I've always heard that about gas plants, but have never seen it... I wonder, though, if there's a chance that you ran into some poison ivy while weeding. I've cleared it and cleared it out of our garden, but birds drop seeds, and every year a dozen or so new poison ivy plants will pop up here and there; pretty easy to brush against when it's hidden in a flower bed (my personal experience).
Don
Iboy, there are lots of nettles in my garden, but absolutely no poison ivy. I know that the reaction looks a lot like poison ivy, but it is missing one thing - the spreading! Where I scratched my arm on the dictamnus was exactly where the reaction occured and no where else. I have read that some people are more sensitive to the chemicals in the plant than others, so perhaps I am one of the really sensitive people. it would make sense, I am very sensitive to chemicals in general.
Interesting... the garden can be hazardous place! A wild plant that's really bad news is cow parsnip; it has an intense phototoxin in its juice. it's gotten to be a rather bad invasive here in the midwest, and we have to remove a lot of it from our nature preserves; I dress up like a Martian for that job!
Don
Iboy, my friend told me about wild parsnip when he saw my arm. He said that the reaction looked similar. And I can see why, since they are both phototoxins.
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