Opposite from what the general idea might be of a tropical rain forest, in Costa Rica the number of poisonous plants is low.  Not that we don’t have, but in many cases its toxicity happens only if ingested.

There is no poison Ivy in Costa Rica, a tree related to it; Toxicodendrum striatta is known by pheasants but after years traveling through out the country I haven’t seen it yet.

Two other trees are more common and their bark leaves and fruits my produce irritation by skin contact or poisoning, these are: Hura crepitans (Javillo) and Hippomane mancinela, (Manzanillo) both in the Euphorbiaceae family. Even the smoke produced by burning the wood from these trees will produce irritation. Happily these are not abundant trees.

Some plants in the aroid family like Xanthosoma or Dieffembachia have caustic sap, the same goes for Alamanda, a vine showing medium-to-big sized, conspicuous nice yellow blossoms sometimes growing in fences in Costa Rica.

During the dry season for the pacific slope (mid November to April) very often we see the big Eritrinas blooming with lots of orange colors, these flowers are known to be a light psychotropic relaxant when drank in a tea.

There are several species of plants that we know as stinging nettle “ortiga” and this is an important reason why we should always walk into a forest with long pants, but besides been itchy and irritating, they do no harm and actually work as very efficient anti swelling remedy by whipping your arm or leg that its muscle is swollen, painful, but effective. By the way these are plants that are very easy to identify a few steps ahead.