Information about poison ivy, oak, sumac and the skin rashes they cause
It is everywhere right now in the northern states: poison ivy is among most lovely fall color you will see, which will likely cause a few sad people to pick poison ivy leaves to decorate the house. The results can be really awful.
Staghorn sumac is as common as poison ivy; seen along almost all highways in the northeast. In the fall, it comes up with some of the most spectacular fall colors.
Here is a nice little story sent in by a visitor to the site, which makes a good reminder for the fall season:
There is plenty of poison ivy by the side of roads throughout New England and in fact, all over the Eastern US. But this mess was a standout. The patch of ivy is about 8 feet deep and about 50 yards long. You could not possibly get to that utility pole without wading through the poison ivy.
Our newest Hall of Fame member got this rash by wandering into some poison ivy while seeking a place to "commune with nature" after having a bit too much to drink.
A viewer sent in these photos of poison ivy growing on the fence between his house and his neighbor's house. This is one of the most impresssive poison ivy monsters I have ever seen, both in terms of the vine and the massive size of individual leaves.
I drove past this house today and noticed that the lovely front yard tree was totally covered in a monster wrapping of poison ivy. Took a quick snapshot, but I should go back and leave a note for them. This is a nightmare waiting to happen.
Along the Atlantic coast, particularly in Massachusetts, I have seen many places like this, where there is a mass of 50 to 100 feet of solid poison ivy along the beach. This was taken on Boston's North Shore, but both Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard have places like this.
I noticed a 50 foot cliff behind some dumpsters, in back of a building in Boston. I thought the very lush growth on the cliff looked familiar, and it was. This is a huge growth of poison ivy, all the way up the cliff.
Basically, poison ivy is a vine. It usually runs along the ground or climbs up trees and walls.
However, in some cases, it grows into a shrub, and this backyard monster is one of the nastiest we have seen: sent into us by a viewer wondering if this shrub could really be poison ivy.
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