Miscellaneous Plants Causing Irritation of the Oral Cavity and the Skin

In addition to the plants causing irritation of the oral and gastrointestinal tissues by virtue of oxalate crystals and histamine releasing compounds (members of the Araceae), several other plants may be of importance in isolated cases.

Sequelae from Perforating Plants Include:

• Otitis.
• Lameness.
• Fistulous tracts.
• Abscessation.
• Stomatitis.
• Suppurative pleuritis.
• Conjunctivitis.
• Suppurative arthritis.
• Infections due to common soil organisms such as Nocardia and Actinomyces.

Nettles 

Images

• Nettle urtica - Google Image Search.  
• Nettle Laportea - Google Image Search.  
• Urtica dioica - Google Image Search.  

• Urtica spp. and Laportea spp. as well as Nettle spurge (Cnidocolus).
• Primarily hunting dogs are affected.
• Abundant stinging hairs which contain varying amounts of acetyl choline, histamine, serotonin, formic acid and possibly other toxic constituents.
• The resultant clinical signs may include: Salivation, pawing at the mouth, emesis, respiratory distress, slow, irregular heart rate, muscle weakness, and occasionally death.
• Depending upon the clinical signs, atropine, antihistamines and supportive measures may be indicated.

Nettle Family
Urticaceae

Stinging Nettle, Urtica dioica L.

Perennial - Reproducing by seeds and underground rootstocks.

Stem - 2 to 7 feet (0.6 to 2 m) tall, slightly branched near the top, slender, rigid, covered with numerous stinging hairs.

Leaves - Dark green, coarse, opposite, 3 to 6 inches (7.5 to 15 cm) long, pointed with saw-toothed margins, sometimes rounded at base, covered with stinging hairs.

Flowers - Are greenish without petals and produced in clusters in the leaf axils. Male and female flowers borne separately but on the same plant.

Seed pod - 1-seeded.

Seeds - Small, egg-shaped, slightly rough, yellow to grayish-tan.

Found - In barnyards, fence rows, thickets, waste places, and roadsides; generally in damp rich soil. When this plant comes in contact with the skin it causes welts or inflammation.

Burdock

• Arctium lappa.
• Small hooks on flowers catch in hair of animals, especially dogs. Grooming imbeds these in the tongue and mouth which allows them to serve as a nidus for infection often resulting in a granular appearing glossitis and stomatis.
• Treatment is comprised of scraping these areas free of the plant material with a scalpel blade.

Images

• Burdock, Arctium lappa - Google Image Search.  

Wild Barley 

• (Hordeum spp.) and Bromes (Bromus spp.).
• Florets imbed and result in fistulous tracts in the skin.

Little Wild Barley (Hordeum pusillum Nutt) - Native, weedy, annual grass. It is a cool-season, short-lived species that attains a height up to 30 cm or more. It flowers and produces fruit during Spring and early Summer.

Flowers - The spikes are up to 6 - 8 cm in length and are dense and erect. Spikelets are 3 at each joint and are awned.

Leaves - The root system is shallow. The leaf blades are up to 7 cm long, flat, and somewhat rough on the upper surface.

Use or Importance - Limited grazing is about the only use made of this plant, and this occurs during Spring. The plant serves as an indicator of overgrazed prairie or pasture.

Habitat - it is most often found in disturbed areas within prairies. The species occupies a wide variety of soils. Found over much of the United States.

Images

• Little Wild Barley, Hordeum Pusillum - Google Image Search.  

Sandburs

• Cenchrus paucufloris.

• Cause irritation to legs and feet and may traumatize feet.

Other Plants Causing Trauma 

Images

• Puncture vine (Tribulus terrestris). Inset: seed head. Knight A.P. and Walter R.G. (Eds.). A Guide to Plant Poisoning of Animals in North America. Ithaca: International Veterinary Information Service (www.ivis.org), 2003.  
• Tribulus terrestris - Google Image Search.  

• Other Plants Causing Trauma Include:

• Goatheads, Tribulus terrestris.
• Numerous cacti.