Dangerous Dieffenbachia

Hola from the Caribbean! Recently at the local waterfall I was attacked by a plant - well not really attacked but kind of...

Later on I went back to the waterfall to take a picture of the plant that "got me". It looked different than I remembered but the smell was distinctive, so to be absolutely certain it was the plant I was looking for, I covered my fingers for protection and snapped the stem. Out seeped white sap that stunk to high heaven: it was the suspicious shrub!

My landlord is an old guy who’s lived here all his life. I showed him my photos. He had no doubt as to what it was. “We call it Dumb Cane,” he said.

I looked it up and that is indeed what my plant appears to be: more formally called Dieffenbachia(like the house plant). Several sources on the internet said:
This herb is often found in river valleys and on steep slopes. (Exactly where I found it.) Freshly cut parts are very skin irritating. (True to experience.) After one day rashes develop. (That’s just what happened to me.) Irreversible skin damage is possible. (Fortunately that did not happen.) When brought into the eye, the sap can cause injury of the cornea. All parts of this plant are very poisonous when ingested. Some investigators claim that Dieffenbachia contains an active enzyme that can cause suffocation through swelling of the throat and larynx. (Lucky for me, I may be foolish but I’m not stupid. I don’t eat the foliage.)

I also found out that the home remedy for this is to pee on it - not on the plant, on yourself where the exposure to the sap was. During my waterfall trek a friend inadvertently got some sap on his fingers, so he tried it and it works!

You can read the whole story and see pictures here: travelexperiencecostarica.com/2011/03/04/costa-rica-plant-attack/