Just wanted to alert others about this relatively unknown plant with the beautiful purple flower stalks, similar to lupine, that's currently in heavy bloom in the Station fire vicinity.
I was exposed to it last week while climbing Mt. Emma. and learned the hard way while photographing the flower.
Symptoms are similar to poison oak. Very intense itching, blistering. 2 days after exposure my left eye had swollen shut. It took oral steroids to finally calm it down. Poison oak remedies, cortisone creams, etc., don't work. Personally, I would rate the it worse than poison oak. It actually produced blisters beneath the callous of my thumb and hand. Never saw poison oak do that. From what I've learned, the active agent in this plant is a form of benzoic acid, not an oil, like poison oak. Symptoms can last 2-4 weeks although mine subsided in a week because of the steroids. There really hasn't been much research on remedies. A few facts- This plant is a fire follower. It remains beneath the soil and dormant until a disturbance to the soil, such as a fire, initiates the growth cycle. Symptoms take about 2 days to develop after initial exposure. It can also compromise the respiratory system if the hairs on the flower become airborne on a breezy day.
There's a little bit of beta about it on the internet, but not much.
Learn about it, avoid contact with it. It's absolutely miserable. Also, keep in mind that most doctors have no knowledge of this particular plant. Most have never heard of it.
If you are exposed, don't screw around like I did blindly searching out remedies that produced zero results. Get on low dose steroids if you can. 20 mg prednisone, taken orally twice a day worked for me. The relief showed up in 24-48 hours.
CORRECTION/UPDATE- Picture shown below was mistaken for poodledog because of the similarity of the flower but is not. Scroll down for correct images of Poodle Dog Bush.