of turtles and carnivorous plants and also plants

Thanks to everyone who commented on my 365th Blip the other day! I'll try to catch up on commenting in the next couple of days.

Turtling again today. The boy was left unfound (I got close, but I waded through a few messes of brambles and poison ivy to get close, only to get cut off by trees in the way. Jerk)

Pictured are sundew plants. They secrete a sweet sticky liquid that traps tiny critters who get digested for the benefit of the plant (mostly nitrogen and phosphorus, I believe).

One of my coworkers brought me a sample of an unknown plant. Picking it up and fiddling with it, it seemed like a Rhus (sumac)... but then I realized; the stems were kind of red and the fruits weren't the normal red. OH FUCK, IT'S POISON SUMAC. SHIT SHIT WHERE IS THE RUBBING ALCOHOL.

Yep. The most virulent and horrible of the North American Toxicodendrons (poison ivy, oak, and sumac), wikipedia's verbage suggests that the dermatitis is "eruptive". I've since used Tecnu several times and I'm hoping that my insensitivity to the toxin will protect me this time (though I'll probably become sensitive to it now... :( ).

8 hours later, no problems, but symptoms may arrive 24 or more hours later. We'll see. Dammit.

Backblips! turtles and flowers