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Poison Ivy versus Virginia creeper

On the left is our typical spring poison ivy: three leaflets, red and shiny. 

On the right is our little friend Virginia creeper, which has five leaflets in a group.

Another thing to notice is that the poison ivy vine has lots of hairy roots grabbing the stone wall but the creeper just has a few roots that attach to the stone.

It is very common to find these two growing together, but only as ground vines or climbing vines. Poison ivy will sometimes form shrubs, but creeper never learned that trick.