Poison Ivy

Poison Ivy is one of those plants that I have not paid much attention to until recently. I am one of the 20% of the people who are not allergic to the urushiol produced by Poison Ivy. They say that if you are around it a lot then eventually you will get the rash and I can say that is the case with me. Once I was cleaning out a lot of vines from yard and I did get a small rash but other than that I have been pretty lucky and never bothered to learn much about it. That has all changed now that I am leading hikes for friends who are allergic. I need to make sure I don’t go tromping into it and put my friends in jeopardy. Saturday I took some photos to help myself learn.

This one shows the three leaves that I grew up hearing about. “Leaves of three, let it be” was the saying I learned in Girl Scouts.

I am now most familiar with the vine as it grows up trees because it is easily recognized by its hairy tendrils. The bush and ground cover version are not as familiar to me but I do find it amazing that one plant can be a vine, a bush and a ground cover. Equally amazing is that it is a member of the Anacardiaceae or Cashew family. And I also read that Mangoes are in the same family and that some people get a rash from them as well. Who knew?

It is the urushiol oil that is the culprit. The oil can linger on animal fur, on car seats, clothing, and tools and just about anything. So while I don’t have to worry I need to take care that I don’t spread the oil around for my unsuspecting friends to come in contact with. If it is not washed off within about three minutes after exposure it will be absorbed into the skin and a rash will occur.

In my neck of the woods we also have Virginia Creeper which looks a lot like poison ivy. Here you can see the difference between the two vines. The creeper has bigger and lighter colored tendrils compared to the dense hairy ones of the Poison Ivy.

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