Information about poison ivy, oak, sumac and the skin rashes they cause
A viewer sent me this image for a second opinion on whether it is poison ivy. At first glance I thought YES, but then looked closer.
There are two aspects of this plant that are just not right for poison ivy (or poison oak).
There is a wonderful book called "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn". This is a parallel story: A Vine Grows in the Bronx.
Folks, this is why we run this site: to be able to warn people about the dangers of poison ivy (and poison oak and poison sumac).
You don't usually think of poison ivy as a city plant, but it shows up in lots of cities; here in fabulous Brooklyn.
A viewer sent in this nice, clear photo of a tree trunk covered with massive, hairy, poison ivy vines. And since this is springtime, fresh leaves are sprouting out from the vine, in a joyful celebration of the new season.
This is just one of the rashes this gentleman got as a result of clearing out brush and vines in his backyard. This was in Illinois. By end of day he had little bits of itchy spots. By the next day he had the nightmare you see, and a bunch of others.
Here is a tree that is covered by many layers of poison ivy swarming all over it. Many people might not recognize this as a mass of poison ivy vines, but it is. And in a few weeks, the whole thing will be covered with bright red poison ivy leaves.
Poison ivy often reveals itself in the fall.
It tends to turn colors early and so it can stand out from the still-green neighboring plants.
This is our yearly warning to avoid the great colors that poison ivy likes to show in fall.
If you are out gathering the most colorful fall leaves for a table decoration you might accidentally gather the MOST impresssive leaves, which are often poison ivy!
This was taken in lovely Duchess County in New York State on a particularly lovely dairy farm.
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