Identify Poisonous Plants & Reptiles
If you live in mostly concrete city or on a farm in an area where most of the trees have given way to cultivated crops, your experience with poisonous plants and animals likely is minimal. But if you suddenly decide to go camping or take a vacation in the Everglades, it is a good idea to learn to recognize the potential dangers you face. This article will concentrate on poisonous plants and reptiles in the 48 contiguous states.
Instructions
Identify Poisonous Plants and Reptiles in the U.S.
1. Learn to know the names of the poisonous reptiles that are found in the United States. The coral snake, the water moccasin, the copperhead, the various kind of rattlers are the only poisonous snakes found here. The gila monster is the only poisonous lizard.
2. Study the pictures of these reptiles. Look in a field guide or research them in the internet.
3. Learn to recognize the salient features of poisonous snakes. The eyes of pit vipers (copperhead, water moccasin and rattlesnakes) have pupils that look like slits. Their non-poisonous lookalikes have brown pupils. Pit vipers have triangular heads with prominent pits. Rattlesnakes also have their well-known rattle. The coral snake can be distinguished from the harmless king snake by the narrow yellow bands between their broader black and red bands.
4. Study a picture of a gila monster on the Internet or field guide. Notice that it is more brightly colored than most lizards.
5. Learn what kind of poisonous snakes you are likely to find in your area. Rattlesnakes are widespread in the United States, but most are concentrated in the southwest. Water moccasins and copperheads reside in the southeast as far west as Oklahoma. In addition, copperheads range as far north as Massachusetts and Illinois. Gila monsters are found in Arizona.
6. Study up on poisonous plants. There are two general types: plants that are poisonous to touch and plants that are poisonous to eat. Many occur in United States.
7. Learn which plants have urushiol, an oil that causes severe skin rashes in most people. Significant examples are poison ivy, poison oak, poison sumac and poisonwood.
8. Avoid plants with three leaves. They might be poison ivy or poison oak.
9. If you are in southern Florida, do not touch trees that have a whorl of five leaves. This is the distinguishing characteristics of poisonwood. There is one at the entrance of the Everglades, with an explanation of its poisonous properties.
10. Avoid touching plants with leaves that have bristly hairs, unless you know that they are safe. Some have substances that irritate the skin.
11. Do not eat any wild berries unless you know they are safe. Study the most deadly plants, such as Atropa belladonna (deadly nightshade). Examine their pictures on the Internet.
12. Recognize that some parts of common edible plants may be poisonous. For example, the leaves of rhubarb and the foliage of the tomato plant. For a list of ornamental and edible plants in which some parts are poisonous, see the website of Aggie Horticulture in the references below.
13. Do not eat wild mushrooms. Some species of the genus Amanita can kill you, and Morgan's lepiota can make you very sick.
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