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Invasive, toxic plant sends two Utah preschoolers to the emergency room

As myrtle spurge spreads through Utah’s foothills, its caustic sap can injure and sicken curious kids.

(Photo courtesy of Monica Stapley) Evie Stapley, 4, was taken to the emergency room after her eyelids swelled almost shut and she developed a blistering rash. Initially diagnosed as a virus, the inflammation was due to contact with the caustic sap of myrtle spurge, an invasive plant she discovered on a preschool nature walk in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, March 30, 2021. Here she is shown while the reaction was underway, at left, and before she had contact with the plant, at right.