Injuries caused by PALMS

[peachy]

Wow Eric, you missed your calling. With that collection of wicked looking palms, you should have been the gardener for the Spanish Inquisition. I must admit however that you have a few palms that I have and few more I would love to have if they were available here. Specially the Acrocomia and P. zeylanica. I guess you have no problem with neighbourhood cats and kids in your back yard.

Peachy

[Eric in Orlando]

LOL ! I love spiny palms and plants. They don't deter me from planting them just because they are armed but I can't tell you how many broken off spines and thorns I have dug out of my hands and arms with a needle.

[Alicehunter2000]

I have a lot of Astrocaryum aculeatum, tucumã on my place in the country. These palms have fruits that enjoyed a lot around here. And, I am glad to have so many of the plams.. But, you need to be careful handling the fronds and the fallen needles can go right through a foot.

Wow! I never really thought about the spines falling off and leaving needles on the ground. I am planning on putting a very large A. totai on my new property. Was not worried about it at first because I figured we could just plant some smaller plants around the base to keep kids and dogs away. But now I worry that the needles may actually come off and be laying around in the sand. Everybody will be walking around barefoot because it is a beach location.....somebody please advise before I make a 30 foot tall mistake.

[BigFrond]

I got pricked by a Mediteranean fan palm two weeks ago. Anyway, there is one less head on the palm now.

[Darold Petty]

Years ago a friend backed up into the spines of a juvenile Phoenix canariensis. He suffered complete impalement of one cheek of his bum. Entry from the center and out on his hip side. He couldn't sit for a month. Still gives me the creeps just to think about this accident,.. (and it didn't even happen to me !)

[Phoenikakias]

Many times got my skin (arms and legs) penetrated to bleeding by theophrasti pinnae, not thorns! Spines of Phoenix spss due to the tanin cells cause more pain by puncturing, than the physical damage would let to imagine. But afer so many punctures so many years I think I have acquired sort of mithridatism

Edited November 7, 2012 by Phoenikakias

[Alicehunter2000]

Mithridatism is the practice of protecting oneself against a poison by gradually self-administering non-lethal amounts. The word derives from Mithridates VI, the King of Pontus, who so feared being poisoned that he regularly ingested small doses, aiming to develop immunity.

There are only a few practical uses of mithridatism. It can be used by zoo handlers, researchers, and circus artists who deal closely with venomous animals. Mithridatization has been tried with success in Australia and Brazil and total immunity has been achieved even to multiple bites of extremely venomous cobras and pit vipers. Venomous snake handler Bill Haast used this method. Snake handlers from Burma tattoo themselves with snake venom for the same reason.^[1]

^{Indian epics talk about this practice too. It has been said that, during the rule of the king Chandragupta Maurya (320-298 BCE), there was a practice of selecting beautiful girls and administering poison in small amounts until they grew up, thus making them insensitive to poison. These maidens were called vishakanyas (visha = poison, kanya = maiden). It was believed that making love with vishakanyas can result in death of their partners, hence they were employed to kill enemies.}

^{It is important to note that this practice is not effective against all types of poison. While some (primarily natural) poisons, such as poisonous venoms and tree extracts, can have an immunity built up in this fashion, other (primarily synthetic or base chemical) poisons, such as cyanide, will either pass through the system without leaving any lasting immunity or will build up in the system to lethal levels over time.}

[Lowey]

Thanks for the information David, very informative

[Dave-Vero]

Years ago, in my Jacksonville yard, I was cutting the grass on Saturday of Labor Day weekend, and brushed by one of the Butia palms. The tip of a leaflet got into my ear and punctured the eardrum. It healed by itself, but the loss of directional hearing was a big surprise--I hadn't realized how much I locate things by sound. The first visit to the Jacksonville orchestra after the injury was particularly weird. They were in a medium-sized auditorium where it was easy to locate instruments on stage. Suddenly, the violins were making flute sounds.

[Gonzer]

Dave, excellent info. Thanks.

[Jack.]

CIPD thorns, few times been stabbed in finger or hand by them

Edited November 9, 2012 by Jack.