Is That Poison Ivy? REVISED
We’re all heard “leaves of three, let it be,” but it’s a little more nuanced than that.
I’m always surprised by how many of my friends and relatives can’t identify poison ivy. As a result, they’re afraid to walk on wooded trails with me and my dog, and that makes me sad. (Well, they’re afraid of poison ivy and ticks, but ticks are a story for another day).
If you avoid all three-leaved woodland plants, you’re going to miss out on strawberries and raspberries, and you’ll spend a lot of time dodging harmless stuff that you needn’t worry about.
Part of the reason that poison ivy is so tricky to identify is that the leaves look different at varying stages of their development. Sometimes the leaves have jagged edges, sometimes they don’t. Young, recently unfurled leaves are glossy and have a reddish tint. As they age, they first lose the tint, keeping the gloss. Old leaves are a matte green. And in fall, they turn a glorious shade of red with white berries. So festive!
Here are some things you’ll never find on a poison ivy plant:
- prickers on the stem, like on raspberry canes
- a tall straight-upright stem like a tree (they are vines and cannot support themselves in the air for long) CORRECTED BELOW
- red berries
So now, let’s play “Is That Poison Ivy?”!
Is That Poison Ivy?
I ran across this shrub recently in extreme full sun, next to a path which has been pruned back regularly for decades and is notorious for poison ivy. I know I said poison ivy is a vine that can’t support itself in the air for long, but if you prune almost any vine enough, its trunk will thicken. One of my neighbors has a glorious wisteria tree, for instance. It’s not unlike bonsai or pollarding.
Do you see the conical flower buds? Those turn into ghostly silvery white berries in the fall. You can see them in a lot of the following pictures, too: they are right in the center of the next photo.
The glossy new leaves on this plant are red because it’s in full sun. In the shade (following photos) the foliage tends to be greener. But that’s the thing about poison ivy: it grows in full sun *and* it grows in full shade. It just looks a little different in each.
This one threw me because of its shrub-like behavior, but I would absolutely not touch this shrub; I 100% believe it is poison ivy.
Is That Poison Ivy? You bet it is. In this photo, you can see the glossy younger leaves, the matte older leaves, and a few leftover white berries from winter.
Is That Poison Ivy? Nope, it’s some kind of fake strawberry. The leaves are a little smaller and have a rounder tip than poison ivy.
Is That Poison Ivy? No. My friend Roni calls it starflower, because it blooms with a tiny, white, star-shaped flower. I don’t think that’s really what it’s called, though. Its leaves are narrower and longer than poison ivy, and as this plant matures, two leaves grow on the stem beneath the initial cluster of three. Here’s another picture of starflower(?). Even I can’t tell them apart sometimes.
Looking at this photo, I realized a key difference between starflower (?) and poison ivy: this plant has three sets of leaves coming out of the same terminal point at the top of the plant. Poison ivy’s leaf clusters are staggered up the vine stem. Also, this plant grows straight up about a foot tall on a very thin stem, which poison ivy can’t do; it needs something to cling to at that point or it develops a woody trunk.
Is That Poison Ivy? It sure is! You can see the mature woody trunk that ultimately winds up trees and fences. I’m pretty sure you can’t touch that, either. I mean, if you want to try, knock yourself out, but I’m not going to.
Is That Poison Ivy? It’s a trick question. Yes, to the upper left, it is poison ivy. But the plant in the right front is a baby raspberry cane. Their leaves are extremely similar, but raspberries are more jagged on the sides. Easiest of all, though: raspberry stems and canes have prickers. And while baby raspberries themselves are white, they mature to red and black.
Is That Poison Ivy? Nope, another raspberry. I bet you got that one right.
Is That Poison Ivy? It is! It’s a particularly lush poison ivy plot in my yard that winds along the metal fence in the background. Thanks for that, neighbor.
Don’t let the fear of poison ivy stop you from enjoying the woods, please. Even if you get it, for most people it’s not so bad. I’m saying that as someone who has had her entire torso covered in weeping poison ivy blisters. It’s a little traumatic at the time, but it makes for a good story later.
The best treatments I’ve found are Technu — which works if you wash with it immediately after exposure — and Band Aid poison ivy gel. Bandage any weeping blisters, and when you can’t take the itch anymore, slap — don’t scratch — your skin. If possible, running your skin under hot water helps with the itch, too.
Some people have a severe reaction to poison ivy that includes fever and extreme swelling, and it is possible to get it in your eyes, mouth, and nose. In those cases, medical help is necessary and you may have to take steroids.
Also: NEVER BURN POISON IVY. EVER. DO NOT. The toxic oil can get into your lungs with the smoke from the fire, and that is extremely bad. That’s an emergency room trip (and possibly fatal). If you’re burning brush in the spring, make sure there are no poison ivy vines wrapped around or mixed in with the brush.
I’m sorry to say I can’t help you with poison sumac or poison oak. Poison oak doesn’t grow anywhere I’ve lived, and poison sumac apparently grows in swamps, where I don’t spend a lot of time. But of the three, poison ivy is the most prevalent, and I hope this illustrated guide has helped you feel more secure in identifying it. Especially so you can avoid accidentally burning it.
