Actually more like Acer dermatitis, but Acer Eczema has a better ring to it!

Odd story. I was rushed to cut some grass since we have now gone from drought to flood - rainfall now over 12 inches for August. It's been hard to find a dry slot when I wasn't too busy with work or whatnot. (namely, other gardening tasks!)

A Kubota subcompact can move along at a good clip and I was cutting faster than I usually do because it was threatening to rain again. My mature Japanese Maples - something of the 'Bloodgood' ilk - have low hanging branches. I have had a habit of still cutting under them...I just sort of duck to avoid them and make sure the ROPS bar does not damage a major branch. (happened the year I got the tractor but I now have a better sense of its presence) This time, a whippy, thin branchlet sort of wrapped around my left foreman and then snapped loose, leaving a 'rug burn' type gash near my elbow. No broken skin but the sort of thing where there is still a faint reddish line, about 3-4" long.

It was immediately itchy in the way that a rug burn would be. I finished cutting and other gardening tasks, maybe a couple hours, then washed it in my bathtub when I got inside. This seems to sooth it. But over the course of the next 2-3 days, it got reddish and perma-itchy, just the way a brush with poison ivy would! Not quite as itchy fortunately, but definitely some kind of allergic reaction. Now on the 4th day it's no longer itchy.

Anyone had this happen with a totally unexpected plant? now that I read about it, apparently Acer can cause a mild allergic reaction in some individuals.