PlantFiles Pictures: Air-Potato (Dioscorea bulbifera), 0 by rashy

rashy wrote:
EXTREME CAUTION !!!!!!I BECAME FAMILIAR WITH THIS AIR POTATO BY ACCIDENT SOON AFTER RELOCATING TO fLORIDA...IT WAS IN A POT OF HERBS THAT A NEIGHBOR HAD GIVEN TO ME....I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT IT WAS AT THE TIME...LOOKED LIKE A SMALL IVY GROWING FROM A SMALL BULB..I PLANTED IT AND IT GREW INCHES PER DAY!! AFTER A COUPLE OF MONTHS I NOTICED SOME SOME BULBS GROWING ON THE STEMS...I KNOCKED THE BULBS OFF AND PUT THEM IN A JAR TO DEAL WITH LATER...AFTER 12 HOURS OR SO THE PALM OF MY HAND BECAME ITCHY AND VERY SORE AT THE SAME TIME...BY THE NEXT DAY A HUGE RASH HAD DEVELOPED WITH BIG BLISTERS...I COULD NOT STOP THIS FROM SPREADING AND I WENT STRAIGHT TO THE DOCTORS...TWO INJECTIONS AND A 6 DAY PREDNISONE PACK SLOWLY AND I DO MEAN SLOWLY STOPPED IT FROM SPREADING...10 DAYS LATER IT WAS STILL NOT COMPLETELY GONE...A STRONG WARNING TO EVERYONE ABOUT THIS PLANT...ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE ALLERGIC TO POISON IVY,OAK,OR SUMAC. THIS IS THE WORST ALLERGIC REACTION I HAVE EVER HAD IN MY LIFETIME AND IT IS EXTREMELY PAINFUL AS IT BURNS AND ITCHES AT THE SAME TIME...BELEIVE ME ...IT'S NOT WORTH IT.