# Poisonous plant identification



## Stylopidae

Poison ivy, or Rhus radicans is a scourge to us buggers and herpers. It's itchy rash is the stuff childhood summer camp stories are made of.

So here's some pictures of poison ivy to help you stay away from it when you're out in the feild.

We're all very aware of the old 'leaves of 3' saying, and while this is accurate quite a bit of the time there are many plants that look similars.

Poison ivy is most easily distinguished by three leaves centered around a red stem in the center.

One leaf always has a longer stem than the other


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## Stylopidae

*Mimics*

In this part, I am going to discuss how to identify Virginia Creeper.

VIrginia creeper is a vine that looks almost identical to poison ivy. However, it is harmless. The plant usually has 5 leaves, but I've seen numbers ranging from three to seven.

The leaves on virginia creeper can be about the same size as those of poison ivy, but have teeth on both margins that are finer and more in number than those of poison ivy.

Both poison ivy and virginia creeper produce friut. Virginia creeper produces dark blue to black berries, while poison ivy's berries are white.

Although virginia creeper's leaves all originate from a central stock, similar to poison ivy, The stems on virginia creeper plants aren't as pronounced as those of poison ivy.


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## Crotalus

Thanks! That will come in handy. Allthough Im not too sensible to poision ivy - yet anyway.


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## Arietans

Not to hijack a thread, but here's a tip for you guys.

Identifying all the poisonous plants in Africa is a daunting task to say the least. So we have learnt a few other skills.

1) Break open a leaf and a fruit. Rub it on your skin (not all over, just a little). If a rash starts to form, its poisonous.

2) Watch the animals. They are picky eaters, and only go after things very tasty. If they avoid something its a good bet its poisonous. The perfect animals to watch are squirrels and monkeys.


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## Tim Benzedrine

My mother swears that Virginia creeper poisons her. I've explained that it is not toxic and that she either A) Contacts poison ivy in the same vicinity that she noticed Virginia creeper since they often grow in the same place, or B) has her own unique allergy to the plant. I always correct her when she calls it "poison vine" and she keeps saying she is going to rub some on herself to prove it to me. Nevermind that I have proved it in reverse by handling it and not showing any signs of a reaction.

Is poison ivy unique to the New World? If so, I'm sort of surprised that it hasn't been introduced elsewhere.


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## DE3

*not a hijack, trying to be helpful*

Some other poison ivy observations: 

pi grows in many forms.  it can be a small bush, or a *gigantic* one.  it can be a ground crawling vine.  or a tree climbing vine.

pi will look much different in the early Spring, and the Fall than it does during the summer.

one should be careful when collecting firewood from areas with pi.  Even though the pi is dead and gone from the wood, inhaling smoke from "contaminated" firewood can lead to an _internal_ allergic reaction!

if you've been walking through poison ivy, (like I do) wash your clothes and shower-up at your earliest convienience.  

if you like to transplant trees collected in the woods, (usually something you'd do in the late fall or early spring) make sure the tree you're moving didnt have pi growing on it.  This can be done by choosing your tree when it's still green out.  People with high sensativity to pi (like my father) can get horrible reactions from "contaminated" wood.

*never* say "I'm not allergic to pi"...  But unless you are paticularily sensative to pi, dont live in fear of it -- just be sensible.


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## Sheri

You must also have poison oak as we do here - many find it worse than poison ivy...

though I seem to have a decent natural resistance to it - I know I've exposed myself (once knowingly when I was much, much younger) and never had a reaction.

Of course... there was a time urticating hairs didn't bother me either. 

I was a little surprised that Lelle has not suffered from it yet, as he's never been exposed, even in small doses.


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## skinheaddave

Sheri said:
			
		

> You must also have poison oak as we do here - many find it worse than poison ivy...


I was under the impression that "poison oak," where you are, is just a misnomer for the bush form of poison ivy.  I think you have to go further west or further south to get the "real" poison oak.

Cheers,
Dave


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## Sheri

Interesting!

It seems as though we have;
Rhus glabra (poison sumac) 
Rhus radicans (poison ivy)

I've never even _heard_ of poison sumac before!


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## Stylopidae

I've yet to run across poison oak or poison sumac.

If I could find either of them, I'd post identification tips for them.

As I've never run across either, I don't know how to identify them.

DE3: I found a large stand of poison ivy growing near my house that displays growth forms I didn't post here, as well as berries. Pics will be up in a week or two, as time permits.

If anyone has access to stinging nettles, poison oak or sumac please post ID tips here.


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## DE3

> Poison ivy can grow as a low shrub or a vine. Poison oak can be a low shrub or a small tree with yellow berries. Poison sumac is a shrub with cream-colored berries and leaves that are green in the summer and red in the fall.


http://www.uihealthcare.com/topics/allergies/alle4159.html


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## DE3

*ivy, oak, sumac*

Here's a distribution map: http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=TOXIC
However, I'd argue that poison oak extends further North than indicated


Here is where things get muddy, with hybrids:


> These two plants are quite similar in appearance and will often crossbreed to make a hybrid. Both have alternate, compound leaves with three leaflets. The leaves of poison ivy are smooth or serrated. Poison oak's leaves are lobed and resemble oak leaves. Poison ivy grows as a vine along the ground or climbs by red feeder roots. Poison oak grows like a bush. The greenish-white flowers are small and inconspicuous and are followed by waxy green berries that turn waxy white or yellow, then gray.


http://www.survivaliq.com/survival/app-poisonous-plants-poison-ivy-and-poison-oak.htm


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## DE3

Sheri said:
			
		

> Of course... there was a time urticating hairs didn't bother me either.


*Exactly!!!*


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## Crotalus

Sheri said:
			
		

> I was a little surprised that Lelle has not suffered from it yet, as he's never been exposed, even in small doses.


I have acctually but it didnt bother me much then
Maybe its the same chemical setup as in nettles? If so I been exposed to those all my life


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## Brian S

We are blessed with both PI and PO around here.


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## Ganoderma

another one for the list is Devils Club.  only by water, usually rivers, but man does it hurt.  some of the indians apperantly have used it in medicine on vancouver island.

i was watching a program on TV about stinging netal and using it for muscle and joint pains such as arthritis.


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## ArachnoCrazy

i have ran around in nettles my whole life and now i seem to become immune to them because i can pick it and play with it and i have no reaction to it any more.


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## Thoth

I'm suprised no one mentioned in the vine form of poison ivy apears to be a hairy rope.

Lelle probably has not been exposed enough to poison ivy to develope a reaction. Oddly enough the first few times a person is exposed to poison ivy, they have no to little reaction, but those exposures serve to sensitize you to it, so subsequent exposures result in worse reactions to it. There is some thing about the oils in the plant which cause the reaction which acts as a sensitizer so you never become 'immune" to poison ivy but with repeated exposure things can get worse.


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## DE3

Still fairly juicey looking for late summer poison ivy


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## Stylopidae

Tim Benzedrine said:


> My mother swears that Virginia creeper poisons her. I've explained that it is not toxic and that she either A) Contacts poison ivy in the same vicinity that she noticed Virginia creeper since they often grow in the same place, or B) has her own unique allergy to the plant. I always correct her when she calls it "poison vine" and she keeps saying she is going to rub some on herself to prove it to me. Nevermind that I have proved it in reverse by handling it and not showing any signs of a reaction.
> 
> Is poison ivy unique to the New World? If so, I'm sort of surprised that it hasn't been introduced elsewhere.


Actually, virginia creeper contains chemicals that a select few percentages of the population may be allergic to.

Wow...so much with this thread I forgot to do. Hopefully I can find the time to do it with the little amount of time I have before winter.


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## jwasted

good post thanks for showing !


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## arachnocat

Thanks for the post! It's definitely good to know what those plants look like when you go bug hunting. When I was little I went camping and the people in the next campground were burning poision oak. The smoke got on me and I had  poision oak rash all over my body and in my lungs. It was awful. All I could do was put calamine lotion all over. They have all kinds of remedies now that neutralize the poison including a shot you can get. I wish they had that when I was little! :-(


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## the_frog_kid

hahaha i feel bad for you 
i have a natural immunity to poison ivy 




thanx froggy


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## DE3

the_frog_kid said:


> i have a natural immunity to poison ivy



Do you mind if I ask how is it you know you're immune to poison ivy?


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## Mr_Baker4420

i don't have allergic reactions to poison ivy. i come in contact with it all the time on our property and our hunting lease.  is it that unbelievable that the guy isn't affected by the stuff. as for the surely impending rebuttals i may receive from some naysayers, YES i do know what poison ivy, poison oak, and poison sumac are and what they look like.


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## Taceas

Having been out in the woods most of my life, learning to ID the "leaves of three" while mushroom hunting is necessity in most cases. 

I don't get Poison Ivy rashes either, neither does my dad. My mom however, someone could be burning it 5 miles away and she'd get a rash. 

A picture of Poison Ivy in the "hairy rope" form after many years growing on a cherry tree in my backyard, along with a couple of smaller, younger runners (far right with a few leaves still attached)..






I think the best way to tell between Poison Ivy and Poison Oak, despite the fact they both have 3 leaves is that the leaf edges on PI are smooth, whereas the leaf edges on PO are toothed/lobed. From my experience, PI climbs more than PO, which tends to form knee-high stalks.

I don't get Poison Oak from mild contact with the leaves, have to actually get the sap on me, which I typically come in contact with when clearing brush with a weed-eater.

We have Sumac around here, it turns a beautiful rainbow of colors in the late summer and autumn, but I'm not sure which is the poison and which is the harmless one. If they're all one and the same, I've gotten the sap on me many times and never had a problem. I used to play with the plant as a child because the milky sap made a nice homemade glue.

Some people are allergic to Virginia Creeper as well, my mother is one of those poor souls. They come in many different sizes, and seem to be spread by bird droppings. I tend to have a lot of them sprout in my yard or nearby flowerbeds that are adjacent to where my bird feeders are all year. They do put out a cluster of grape-like berries that I'm guessing birds dine on during the winter.

Picture of a large beautiful Virginia Creeper leaf from this autumn, it grows up a tree by our driveway along with the Trumpet Vine/Devil's Shoestring. 






The best remedies for the rashes in my experience have been: 

- Tincture of witch hazel, it reduces inflammation and makes the skin feel refreshed
- Extra Strength Benedryl Cream - has medications to dry out the ooze and stop the itch
- I have _never_ had any luck with calamine lotion, I think its just chalk water. If zinc is that important of an active ingredient, you might as well use diaper rash cream. Which I haven't tried for rashes thus far.

Really informative site I found: http://poisonivy.aesir.com/view/welcome.html


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## DE3

Mr_Baker4420 said:


> i don't have allergic reactions to poison ivy. i come in contact with it all the time on our property and our hunting lease.  is it that unbelievable that the guy isn't affected by the stuff. as for the surely impending rebuttals i may receive from some naysayers, YES i do know what poison ivy, poison oak, and poison sumac are and what they look like.


I come in contact with it on a frequent basis myself.  I wear long pants and avoid the fresh sap.  I havent had a reaction in ~25 years.  
Would I grap a handful and use as TP? --Not a chance.
You're immune until..you're not immune.  
Just my 2 bits, Mr.


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## Tim Benzedrine

Evil Cheshire said:


> Actually, virginia creeper contains chemicals that a select few percentages of the population may be allergic to.


Huh. I guess you learn something every day.  I probably owe mom an apology, I was pretty patronizing about it..... Nah, I'll just conveniently forget what I learned. 

But when I think about it, couldn't [/i]every[/i] plant technically contain chemicals that a select few percentages of the population is allergic to?


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## Thoth

Tim Benzedrine said:


> Huh. I guess you learn something every day.  I probably owe mom an apology, I was pretty patronizing about it..... Nah, I'll just conveniently forget what I learned.
> 
> But when I think about it, couldn't [/i]every[/i] plant technically contain chemicals that a select few percentages of the population is allergic to?


Simply put, yes.


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## krtrman

from what i understand from my severe reactions with poison ivy and the research that i have done on the oil (Urushiol), urushiol is harmless to us. however when it binds with our skin it creates an immune system response. our skin thinks that it is a foreign body and tries to attack it. thus the rash. some of us produce too much t-cell activity when we come in contact and thus we have a more severe reaction. others have no reaction. sometimes native background has a lot to do with poison ivy immunity. (native americans have a high tolerance. whereas european backgrounds have little or no tolerance.) scratching the rash does not spread the oil. urushiol is soluble in alcohol but not in water. so if you do come in contact wash the area with alcohol first and then bathe. laundry detergent on the clothes is effective by itself. if you swab with alcohol within the first 15 mins, you may avoid the reaction.


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## Stylopidae

krtrman said:


> scratching the rash does not spread the oil.


From personal experience, I can tell you that that's false. Since the active ingredient in PI, PO and PS (Ivy, Oak, Sumac) is an oil, all that's needed to neutralize it is a bar of soap. When I go out into the woods, I always carry a hotel bar of soap and a gallon of water with me.


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## krtrman

if you scratch the rash within 15 minutes yes you can spread it. once the rash appears the oil is all soaked in and cannot spread. other areas that appear affected after 24 hours are secondary contact points. urushiol is not soluble in water. you may be able to flush a lot of it off your skin with soap and water but rubbing alcohol is really only one of a few things that can eliminate the oil.

and the weeping that appears when one scratches the rash is just the body's way of flushing out the foreign invader.

urushiol is the main oil ingredient used in japan as a lacquer for wooden products. they use the oil because of its water resistant properties.


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## Stylopidae

Thought I'd bump this for all the new prospective buggers here


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