what's this? it causes blisters!

My friend has some of this in his garden and when he trimmed it back it leaked milky liquid on to his hands. The liquid gave him blisters and made his eye red and watery.

I'm interested to know what it is, and how poisonous it might be. Anyone got any ideas?

Cheers

 

Welcome to Gardeners Corner

Spurge, nasty sap

 

Euphorbia I think. Yes, it can cause a nasty rash to someone with sensitive skin.
Zigs can you help with the toxic side of this please?
Jenny

 

Only thing you can do is treat the symptoms with a salve.

 

thanks for the help everyone :-)

 

I think I might have some of this. It'll be removed (with care!)

 

Mine is where my cat pushes past flowers to get to her shady spot, so I'll remove it just in case as don't want her to catch her eyes with it or try eating it!

 

I think, just to further complicate things, that different people react in different ways to euphorbia sap.

When I first learned how nasty it can be, I was quite worried because at the time there was a lot of it in my garden and I have a young son. I did a little test. I deliberately put a tiny blob of sap on my finger and waited to see what happened. Nothing. So After about 15 minutes, I rubbed a bit more all over my finger. Nothing at all happened. Yet my mate, who also had the same one in his garden (the weed kind), pulled it all up without knowing anything about it. As far as he was concerned he was just tidying his garden. I rang me up to ask why his hands and forearms were all sore and red and blistered after gardening.

 

That's a relief and good to know! Thanks Shiney