Hiking - dangerous plants

Arts & Sciences Science & Nature
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Sorry if I’m not posting this in the right place. Moderators, feel free to move this if you think necessary.

I personally think this topic needs a sticky. Ditto for dangerous animals (mostly snakes).

Yesterday, I touched Yaorengou 咬人狗 or “bite people dog” for the first time. I have previously touched Yaorenmao 咬人貓 or “bite people cat” on a couple of occasions.

I can tell you that the Yaorengou is worse. In fact, my online research indicates that some people have even died after touching it. It’s more insidious than Yaorenmao, which is a very distinctive plant that even looks nasty. Yaorengou is beautiful - it could easily be an ornamental plant in somebody’s garden.

I didn’t have a camera with me nor a camera cell phone, so I didn’t get pictures. However, a google search turned up photos of both plants. I also discovered the English (or Latin) names for both plants, and Wikipedia pages for both.

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Chinese name: Yaorengou 咬人狗
Latin name: Dendrocnide meyeniana
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dendrocnide

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Chinese name: Yaorenmao 咬人貓
Latin name: Urtica thunbergiana
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urtica_thunbergiana

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It’s been over 24 hours since I touched the Yaorengou and I’m still hurting. I was lucky that the plant was right next to a stream. As soon as I touched it, I felt the pain, and I dove right into the creek and tried to scrub off the poison and tiny hairlike stickers (so small that they aren’t even visible). Had it not been for the water, who knows what shape I’d be in now.

Online research suggests that main treatment is a cream containing antihistaminics or hydrocortisone - I went to the local pharmacy and got one called Winsolve Bumin Ointment 化敏軟膏 (hua4min3ruan3gao1) which sort of helps. I also took some strong antihistamines last night so I could sleep.

Long pants and sleeves probably would have helped, but it was too hot for that yesterday. I was wearing shorts and a T-shirt at the time.

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Two good reasons why I wear long pants when out on the trails, and you can add brambles, saw grass and some kinds of ivy as other things to be wary of. Not to mention the hordes of insects at lower elevations. I guess for popular wide paths like on Elephant Mtn. wearing shorts doesn’t matter, but even there one might want to explore some side trail and then, eek oww…ouch!

The hiking stores have some lighter Polartec material pants that are suitable for the hot climate and a cheap pair of farmers gloves would be equally useful especially on the rougher paths where there is a fair amount of overgrowth that needs to be pushed away.

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Thanks, good to know, was this in Taipei?

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I second that: thanks a lot. I know the Australian ‘Giant Stinging Tree’ - nasty - but I had no idea it had a relative here in Taiwan. So, again, :notworthy:.

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Iv never even heard of these plants. Are they pretty commonly found??? Iv heard of poison ivy (dont know what that looks like though) but this is incredible.

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Wow thanks for this post. I’m a mountain boy and tromp all over the hills. The worst we have where I’m from is stinging nettles and poisen oak. Both suck, but are mild enough to give me a rather carefree attitude that could be dangerous around here. Thanks for the pics.

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Around NYC you gotta watch for poison ivy pretty closely. You get it drilled into you from when you’re a kid. I’ve never worried here though.

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I’ve only seen the “people biting dog” in the south of Taiwan, and the “people biting cat” at higher elevations in the north.

As for where you live, tommy, poison oak is very common. It has shiny, oak-shaped leaves that grow in threes. Tilden Park has a lot of it off the trails.

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I’ve only seen the “people biting dog” in the south of Taiwan, and the “people biting cat” at higher elevations in the north.

As for where you live, tommy, poison oak is very common. It has shiny, oak-shaped leaves that grow in threes. Tilden Park has a lot of it off the trails.[/quote]

good to know, and since i know nothing bout vegetation, another reason not to be off the road or a wide trail.

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Tommy,

Just for you, a photo of Poison Ivy.

comicbookhotties.com/models/ … =13&l=true

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[quote=“Anubis”]Tommy,

Just for you, a photo of Poison Ivy.

comicbookhotties.com/models/ … =13&l=true[/quote]

hmm…ahh…ok i will try not to touch her

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Hi Tempo,

My encounter with Yaorengou two days ago was in Taitung, at about 300 meters elevation alongside a creek. Somebody up in Chiayi told me that they have it there, but I haven’t checked that out personally. Probably any warm and wet area could have it.

Yaorenmao is mostly in the mountains. I’ve run into it (literally) in central Taiwan at elevations around 700 to 1500 meters. But at least it’s easy to recognize - an ugly plant, and once you’ve touched it, you’ll have incentive to remember what it looks like. From what I’ve read, Yaorenmao is actually edible if cooked, but I don’t think I’ll try it.

Yaorengou, on the other hand, isn’t good for anything, except maybe to make a nice-looking natural fence to keep out intruders.

regards,
DB