POISONING BY PRIMULA.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIX, Issue 5336, 8 October 1928, Page 1

POISONING BY PRIMULA.

THE LATEST TEBBOB. Through cwiitact with one of the most, commonest winter flcsw-er plants in suburban gardens, a Sydney professional gardener has for seven months, lain at the point of de.a;th (says an Australiaii; paper). His is regarded by specialists as extraordinary, aiijd emphasises the unreccjg,njs.ed menace to amateur gaydeners and otherSS in one of our mot popular pla.nts. Mr Spahnoi is a well-knowp Sydlney master gardener, whose skill in ihi£ profession isi proverbial. Early this year Mr Spahixo was at work on a flower-bed bordered by the oraijajmental plant known as. Primula MalAcoides. He had a small cut or abrasion' on his hand which he had not covered with a bandage, believing the hurt trivial. During his work his injured) hand came into .icwtajct with several of. the border primulsai Latei in the day he was using a spray containing, lime and sulphur, some of whic,h fell on the cut,- scaling it Thereafter the trouble:, which was. believed due to the primula;, began.- His hand swelled up and turned black. Maddening pain, and irritation Set in, and he grew so ill that a doctor wa,s called ajid the patient was hurried to the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital a;s a case of acute “blood-poisoning,” “Blood-poisoning (septicaemia) is a term which is usually combined to general invasion of the bo.cfy by .the germs of sepsis which have gained access through some break in th. a skin! It wasjs oon discovered, however, that Mr. Spahno’si symptoms were riot typical of the usual germ-infection. • In his case the skin turned black and ultimately peeled off, and, spreading from hia| originally infected maddetaing irritation set in) which the physicians wepe uqablie tq alleviate. Foj-. a time his life was despaired of. Skin disease experts were then; called in, and many leading Macqua;ri,e Street specialists the patient, whose case admittedly puzzled them. Finally they came to the cc ; nclr.s,ion that the case was actually Oitije of “Primula-poisoning.” That the Primula c.aju be an; excessively dangerqus plant was recognised in Etagland ;a,s far back as 1910, when there was an outbreak of poisoning amo;ng professional gardeners 1 . At that time .a started) for a hothouse plant named Primula Obc,on,cia, popularly known as Chinese Primrose. When handled, minute ha.irs of tjhe plant- remained on the- skin, setting up first itching and then a spreading infl.ammaticjn which, proved difficult of treatment. The. Primula favoured' by Australian gardeners is the Malaec.ide.s type, a- hardy plant, which in that climate c,an be grown anywhere out-of-dQors. Up to the present it has not bfl|en, -considered particularly poisonbus. In the c,ase qf Mr SDahno, however,' the poisloning w.a;s of a virulent .type, and (what is a disquieting point), spread fin spitq of the physicians efforts and covered the whole of his body. No treatment could bripg relief. ' Fi.n|a.lly, after Mr. Spahno had been several weeks in hospital, the doctors said they could .no nothing further and he was t a iken. home. He is ,still bedridden, and. has r.eimaiued thus for seven monjths. His, wife says there has been no change, in hisi condition sinc.e he left the hospital, which (as the physicians could not ajleviate his sufferings (ha left in little better condition than he entered. Thi,s caste is of. unique interest both to. the mefiicql profession and the layman. . Admittedly there- is some doubt as to ,the extent of the role played by the primula in the original seizure;. But there seems -little doubt as to, the final result being'due to the plant or to fairly frequent) occurrence of primula-poisoning among gardener.-:; (either amateur or. professional) who han|dle the plant. One well-known skin specJqliPt said that Primula Majacoidies .was responsible for many minor cases of poisoning, and that there was, some doubt as to the so ( urce of the plj-nt-poison, some believing it to be a toxin conr tainedl in, the pollen. Apparently such types of plantpqisoning are ne.t well understood. Recent, research ba,s unearthed a large -class, of skin-trouble due to common garden plants. The . best kn.qw-n is tlhat due. to “poison-ivy,” a c.reeper. common in, America. Another skin poison is contained in .the Ordinary daffodil and narcissus, and Setisi up “lily-rash” in flqwcr-pickers when those blooms, are grown commercially. Still another exist! in; -ti-tree a;nd many types of eucalyptus. Mr J. H. Maiden, doyen of study of Australian gums, pointed out so l'<-ng ago as 1904 that grey gum, 1 spotted gum, and “box” would set; up diematitis) (skin inflammation) not. only to those ' handling the,m, but to any susceptible person in; their proximity. The latter statement is significant in view of the belief o;f some skin specialists that primul.arPOiisoning is due to pollen, amd henc.e might possibly be carried to a human being by the wind.