Poison Ivy / Oak Treatment
Toxicodendron (Rhus)
They have finally seperated poison oak/ivy/sumac into their own genus.
  1. Take Manzanita  Arctostaphylos sp. branches, leaves, flowers, berries and all, pack them tightly into a kettle
  2. Cover them with water and simmer for about an hour.
  3. Let the solution cool and remove the plant parts.
  4. Sponge the solution onto the Rhus rash.  In a few hours the itching should have gone away.
  5. Apply the solution 2 or 3 times a day until the rash is gone.  For me it takes 3 to 5  days and without treatment it takes 3 to 5 weeks). It is important to get the rash as soon as it starts. Once it does more damage the longer it takes to heal.
An Emergency Room MD (took the class Dining on the Wilds is based on) went to a survival school. Someone there got Poison ivy on both sides of the body. The victim wanted to treat it herbaly so He pulled out his Manzanita and the victim treated one side with the Manzanita solution and the other side with Jewelweed. The Manzanita side healed faster than the Jewelweed side.

Several Indian tribes used the Manzanita or uva-ursi leaves to treat poison oak.

A survival teacher friend of mine says oak bark works in the above method too.  He claims that it is the tannin that does the trick.  Well good tanning to you if you get poison ivy / oak. There is some evidence that Uva ursi Arctostaphylos uva-ursi works well too.

BTW   deer and goats like to eat poison ivy / oak.   Therefore deer hunters must value the Poison ivy /oak?

for some pictures go to
Manzanita
Pacific Poison Oak

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