The cause of the irritation can be mechanical, such as products containing ground
rose hips. Another common ingredient is
Mucuna pruriens, a type of
legume that produces seedpods coated with thousands of detachable spicules (needle-like hairs). The spicules contain an enzyme,
mucunain, that causes severe itching, and they have been sold commercially as itching powder.
Mucuna pruriens has been used to test the efficacy of
anti-itch drugs. whereas the body (rather than the wing) of the
samara of the
bigleaf maple is covered with spiny hairs that cause skin irritation and are used to make itching powder. Itching powder was created from
Mucuna pruriens in the early-19th century as a cure for lost feeling in the
epidermis. When a person would lose feeling on their skin in conditions such as paralysis, the powder (mixed with lard to form an ointment) was used as a local
stimulant believed to treat the condition. == Gallery ==