Jon in SW Ohio
June 12th, 2005, 04:37 PM
Just found out the hard way...don't touch Cyp. reginae! I don't get poison ivy, but got a decent rash from touching my ears and nose after squishing whitefly on my new reginae. No blisters, but very similar to a poison ivy reaction. After I was scratching for a while I remembered reading this in a wildflower book of mine and thinking it was hooey years ago...but beware, I can only imagine the reaction I would have gotten if I were allergic to poison ivy. I have touched pubescens and acaule in the past with no problems so wouldn't worry about them too much. If anyone knows other species to beware of I would appreciate it.
Jon
Paphgirl
June 12th, 2005, 04:49 PM
Interesting! Thanks for the warning. I touched acaule the other day and I don't think I had any reactions.
TADD
June 12th, 2005, 06:17 PM
Ouch! Not good! Be careful!
nyorchids
June 12th, 2005, 06:21 PM
thanks for looking out for all!
likespaphs
June 13th, 2005, 11:05 AM
i thought that "nerve root" was a common name for reginae but i guess it's for Cyp. pubescens
fundulopanchax
June 20th, 2005, 09:03 AM
Cyp reginae is the one that causes problems for most people. I have severe issues with poison ivy but have not had a problem with reginae (probably I am too enraptured to notice!). But lots of people do get rashes from it.
Ron Burch
Park Bear
June 20th, 2005, 09:20 AM
one of my son's is allergic to poison ivy, he gets it from just breathing it in, he doesn't even have to touch it....so I'm staying away from this just in case.
Paphraguy
June 29th, 2005, 10:01 AM
I always thought that all orchids were non poisonous but good to know and thanks for the warning!
fundulopanchax
July 11th, 2005, 03:20 PM
In looking at the literature (yes, I am a nerd's nerd) the sensitivity has been reported for the US Cyp reginae and the European/Asian Cyp calceolus. I dont find any creditable references to other species but since these two are not particularly closely related in the genus, my guess is that it can occur. The sensitizing substance that has been isolated (it was from C calceolus) is an unusual phenanthraquinone structurally. It is 2,8-dimethyl-7-hydroxy-1,4-phenanthraquinone, which the authors named "cypripedin" as a common name. The report was in Naturwissenschaften 66:537-238, 1979. There are distantly related compounds that have strong antifungal effects.
Ron Burch