Dear Carol,
 
>At 08:27 PM 6/2/98 -0400, you wrote:
 
>I knew what poison ivy looks like, and I guess I now know that poison ivy
>and poison oak are the same things.  Latin names would have solved that
>problem!!
 
Poison ivy and poison oak are similar, but are not the same species; the
first is Toxicodendron radicans, the latter T. toxicarium. Other close
relatives are poison sumac (T. vernix), and South Florida's own poisonwood,
Metopium toxiferum. Add to that many other species in the Anacardiaceae, a
family that also includes cashew (the raw nut is extremely toxic),
pistachio, and mango, and other commercially important trees and shrubs. I
quote the excellent book by Gil Nelson (1994) "The Trees of Florida",
Pineapple Press, Sarasota. Sorry for continuing this  non-shell posting,
but I am interested in the "poison" plants. After I moved with my family in
1996 to a place in the backwoods of Sanibel Island, I chose to learn some
poison-plant taxonomy in order to survive rare gardening raids around the
house.
_____________________________________________
Jose H. Leal, Ph.D.
Director - The Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum
Editor-in-chief - THE NAUTILUS
3075 Sanibel-Captiva Road - P.O. Box 1580
Sanibel, FL 33957
(941)395-2233; fax(941)395-6706
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