What is this plant if it isn't poison ivy? (or is it poison ivy?)

[Stu M]

I was hiking around Mt. Rogers in VA earlier this month and I saw a lot of a plant that looks a lot like poison ivy but I don’t think actually is. I’ve attached three pictures to help: one wider shot of the whole plant and then two close-ups of a five-leaf tip and a three-leaf tip. The “leaves of three” groupings look like poison ivy to me, but they’re on the same plant as the groups of five, which I’ve never seen poison ivy do before. They aren’t two different plants, though; they’re both growing from the same main stem.

I was wearing shorts and had to go through one particularly overgrown area of trail. I tried to keep it off me best I could but ended up brushing up against quite a lot of it anyway but with no reaction. That’s another reason I don’t think it’s actually poison ivy. Does anyone have any idea what this plant is? Thanks.

[Stu M]

Oops. Sorry about that picture placement. You get the idea, though.

[Brad Rogers]

Doesn’t look quite like poison oak to me.

[Matt Dirksen]

It looks like Virginia Creeper

Definitely not poison ivy.

:)

[DAN-Y]

not poison ivy

[Rachel P]

Maybe it’s Virginia creeper. But definitely not poison ivy. I googled “poison ivy lookalikes” and the site I went to mentioned VA creeper can have groups of 3 leaves in addition to the usual groups of 5.

[Jerry Adams]

Three leaves, let it be

Poison oak or ivy

[obx hiker]

Brad Rogers is correct about the photo in the top left;  it’s Virginia Creeper. Not a problem.

The 2 plants commonly grow together, intertwining randomly. You’d have to wear a hazmat suit or something to sort them out.

Notice the difference in the edges of the 2 plants. The “tooth” pattern is slightly different, and also the tips of the leaves are more elongated on the creeper.

 

[Matt Dirksen]

Brad Rogers – Mount Rogers

any relation?

:)

+1 to Virginia Creeper & poison Ivy living in harmony with eachother. They are both native east of the Mississippi, both grow aggressively during the summer, and both look spectacularly beautiful in the autumn.

     

[obx hiker]

Nice pictures Matt!  I probably have the two plants twining together somewhere within 100 feet of where I sit typing.

I let a few Virginia Creeper vine “go” every year just for the autumn color. One of the few reliable sources of fall color here on the sand-bar.

[Author]

Posts