Contact urticaria and contact sensitization to yucca (Yucca gigantea Lem.) in a plant keeper.

It is well known that occupational exposure to pollens of flowering ornamental plants may elicit rhinoconjunctivitis, asthma, and contact urticaria (1). However, it was not until the 1980s that a foliage decorative plant, weeping fig (Ficus benjamina), was recognized as an important cause of occupational immediate mucosal and skin reactions, and, to a lesser degree, of similar symptoms in atopics which were nonoccupationally exposed (2, 3). A few species of the genus Yucca, which are also used as an ornamental indoor foliage plant in colder climates, have been reported to cause