Yesterday while out under the umbrella,my son was rocking his 4 yr old son,trying to rock him to sleep.
Behind my son was a huge Alocasia Mac. in bloom,I had a mister going on the plant,and I noticed my grandson putting his hands in the water from the mister,few minutes went by,all of a sudden he left out a high pitched scream,my son turned him around and asked him what was wrong,well he was crying and screaming,saying hot ,hot! Holding his tongue,I immediately look at the Alocasia behind him and saw the flower gone,I knew then he had bitten the flower off,we called 911,and the poison control center,they said the flower had little hairy fibers,similar to something like stinging nettle,well he had them on his hands and his tongue,they said if he didn't swallow any he be alright but if he did,it could be serious,but to watch him do see if he had trouble breathing,and to take duct tape to his hands and tongue to remove those fibers,then give him a warm hand towel to suck on then,ice cubes or ice cream,he decided he wanted one of grandpas cherry banana fudge cycles!!!LOL
Well good news 30 minutes he was running around playing like nothing happened,thank goodness!
Hour later his appetite was excellent,he chowed down on the ribs and chicken I was smoking,steaks,brauts,and hamburgers and lemon aid!
Alocasia Scare!
Good to hear all turned out well. Poison control was a little off base, though, as Alocasias do not have little hairy fibers like stinging nettle. What they do have is calcium oxalate crystals, which are irritating to the skin and mucous membranes. Some aroids have so much of it that, if chewed, can cause the mouth and esophagus to swell up to the point of preventing speech for a while (i.e. Dieffenbachia, "dumb cane"). If I'm cutting leaves or working with my Alocasias in any manner as to allow some of the sap to get on my skin, it produces temporary irritation/burning. Duct tape would not help because the crystals are too small to be picked up by it. The warm hand towel was a better idea than the duct tape. Ditto the ice cream!
LariAnn
Thanks LariAnn for the info and response.
I don't exactly know where they were getting there info,but Daughter in law said when she was talking to them they were looking on the internet to get there info,and told her that info was off the internet.
But like you it was definitely the ice cream that did the trick!!!!LOL