Poison Ivy identification please!

[LDove]

All this talk about poison ivy makes me itch! 😆 Anywho, I have a plant identification question to ask. I know what poison ivy looks like along side the road, (droopy, shiny, three leaves). My question is I have seen a three leaved plant in the woods that has duller, much larger leaves nondroopy leaves, and sometimes the plants have seed pods on the stems. Is this a variant of poison ivy? I am highly allergic to PI so I go around trying to side-step this stuff and end up stepping in that five leaved creeping plant stuff creeping Viginia – which I think I am allergic to also. 🙄 I have checked all over the internet and cannot find a picture of this mysterious plant.

[marc_54140]

Yes, there are various other plants that look like PI. You need to learn to identify them in the field.

Where does it grow? Generally wet and shady areas are the most likely.

What does it look like? Well, besides the 3 leaves everyone knows about, PI also comes in different variations – small flower like plants, larger bushes, sometimes even like a tree. It’s very adaptable.

Again, you really need to see it in the wild, and rememberwhat it looks like.

[benny7210]

Check out this link for more info.
http://poisonivy.aesir.com/view/welcome.html

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[Jeremy]

Didn’t you already ask this question last year: 🙂

Help identifying a plant please?

A three leaved plant with “seed pods” on the stem? Maybe box elder, and you are thinking the buds (where new stems/branches will appear) are “seed pods”? Pictures of box elder are here:

http://www.cnr.vt.edu/DENDRO/dendrology/syllabus/factsheet.cfm?ID=3

This is a good article on poison ivy and the differences between it and other similar plants:

http://home.alltel.net/medbow/article_ivy.htm

My poison ivy flow chart also has some look-a-likes based on how they differ from PI:

Poison Ivy Flowchart 1.0 (PDF)

And yes, the five leaved plants you are seeing are likely virginia creeper. Apparently some people are slightly sensitive to virginia creeper in the fall when it is has berries. But it does not produce urushiol oil, the stuff that PI produces that people react strongly to.

[LDove]

😆 Now that’s funny. Forgot I asked last year, you can tell I am worried about getting it. Man, you have a great memory. I have gotten better at identifying PI. The plant I am referring to is not box Elder as in the picture. Next time anyone is out in the woods, just look at the ground in the shade and you will see this three leaved plant and some do have seed pods in them that look like a bunch of peas squished together. Thanks everyone for trying to help! 😀

[furfool]

Just to let you know that I have found poison ivy in areas devoid of any shade and in well drained areas. Could be a different variety, but poison ivy nontheless.

[kweejee]

@Jeremy wrote:

This is a good article on poison ivy and the differences between it and other similar plants:

http://home.alltel.net/medbow/article_ivy.htm

That article was pretty interesting. Has anyone tried the immunity by eating it?

[furfool]

I heard of that one but I don’t believe a word of it. My grandfather told me that when he was a boy, the neighbor down the road told him and his brother that eating some PI would make them immune to it. Well he didn’t but his brother did, and you should have seen the grin on grandps’s face. He never really said one way or the other, but that grin said it all. I would never consider eating it.

[Toecutter]

ehehehhe….it didn’t matter in my case of PI….it was right alongside the road and the county crews had come through to mow the ditches…there was no way I would have known without catching it….

and guess what… 😯

It’s cleared up for the most part, and it isn’t driving me nuts anymore…although the shot the nurse gave me could’ve been a bit stronger.

Long pants for me from now on…no matter how hot it is!

Later
Phil

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