australian tree fern poison?

My neighbour planted an australian fern tree and it is doing very nicely in Florida, but I am not. Not knowing this plant was noxious and being helpful, when she pruned it, I carried the fronds to the trash.I broke out in a nasty rash. As I had been around cats that had ring worm, I thought that is what the rash was and went to the doctor. $105.00US later, he told me it was not ring worm but a sumac poisoning. This Aussie fern tree does resemble the sumac that grows wild in North America. Is it related?

No ...here,
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/1813/
Hope your rashe clears up soon.

Hi WW, I looked up my books and can't find any relation to sumac and the Tree Fern. I know it can couse a prickly rash that some people my be allergic to but most times it will go away after washing the area. Sorry to hear about your $105 bucks.
Good Luck
Hel

Hi Chrissy, great info.
Hel

Thanks for your input. The meds. are working and I can go back to work in the shelter for feral cats as it was not ring worm! My neighbour who has this monster plant now also is suffering with a rash. I also check out sumac and find it is related to the almond. Just goes to show, we need Dave's Garden to guide us.

Hi weed_witch. I hope you and your neighbour will be completely well again soon. I've never heard of any tree ferns causing problems so my first thought was it's unusual for something not well-known as an allergen to cause problems for two people like that, so could it be something else nearby.
One thing that occurred to me is that if you are in Florida it may not be the dicksonia you are talking about, which is more suited to cooler climates. The tree fern recommended for warmer climates is cyathea (which I don't know as much about). And look what I found! Scroll down to the comments by Green_End_Up. The "brown fuzzy stuff" would be the spores I think.
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/55695/

Thanks again.Upon checking out poison sumac I found that it is not related to the Australian Tree fern and yes it is the fuzzy brown on the limbs that cause the problem, while it is the sap from the sumac that is the problem. We live in a condo complex and I am sure the hired gardners will live to hate this monster. Beautiful specimen, but beauty like bright spot on the Black Widow attracts male of the species and then she eats them. Wow.Moral of the story, understand what you are planting and cover up when handling this plant.