# Not poison ivy, but what is it?



## MSUICEMAN (Jan 9, 2002)

Found this near my garage. First freaked thought it was poison ivy, but then decided it isn't. No idea what it is though.









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## Big Frank 25 (Feb 21, 2002)

Poison Oak?

https://www.almanac.com/content/poison-oak-identification-and-treatment


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## kroppe (May 7, 2000)

Not poison oak. @MSUICEMAN do you have an idea what it is? If you are in a subdivision or neighborhood, could it be something that migrated from a neighbor's garden via seeds in the wind or by root/vine propagation? Can you post a photo of it growing in situ?


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## WALLEYE MIKE (Jan 7, 2001)

Kinda looks like young bow elder Steve if it looks like a young tree.
Box elder when just starting to grow will have 3 leaves.


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## scubajay (Jun 9, 2003)

WALLEYE MIKE said:


> Kinda looks like young bow elder Steve if it looks like a young tree.
> Box elder when just starting to grow will have 3 leaves.


I don't think its box elder. Box elder has only two leaf clusters per connection point on the main branch. Those appear to have four.

I think it looks like some kind of ash, maybe green ash. Green ash can have up to five leaf clusters at the connection point on the main branch.

But hey, I am no tree expert.


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## eucman (Jan 24, 2009)

MSUICEMAN said:


> Found this near my garage. First freaked thought it was poison ivy, but then decided it isn't. No idea what it is though.
> View attachment 566137
> 
> 
> Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Michigan Sportsman mobile app





MSUICEMAN said:


> Found this near my garage. First freaked thought it was poison ivy, but then decided it isn't. No idea what it is though.
> View attachment 566137
> 
> 
> Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Michigan Sportsman mobile app


Devil’s beggar ticks
Most of us outdoors people are intimately familiar when it is in the seed form; those flat two pronged stickers


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## Petronius (Oct 13, 2010)

MSUICEMAN said:


> Found this near my garage. First freaked thought it was poison ivy, but then decided it isn't. No idea what it is though.
> View attachment 566137
> 
> 
> Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Michigan Sportsman mobile app





eucman said:


> Devil’s beggar ticks
> Most of us outdoors people are intimately familiar when it is in the seed form; those flat two pronged stickers


https://extension.umass.edu/landscape/weeds/bidens-frondosa


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## WALLEYE MIKE (Jan 7, 2001)

Poison ivy









Young box elder









Raspberries 

Notice that these are confused by many as poison ivy as are a few more.


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## kroppe (May 7, 2000)

Poison ivy, also note its white flowers in the upper part of the photo
Newport State Park
Door County, Wisconsin
June, 2020


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## DanSS26 (Jul 10, 2008)

kroppe said:


> View attachment 568951
> 
> 
> Poison ivy, also note its white flowers in the upper part of the photo
> ...


Does not look like poison ivy to me. 

See walleye Mike's photos above.


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## WALLEYE MIKE (Jan 7, 2001)

DanSS26 said:


> Does not look like poison ivy to me.
> 
> See walleye Mike's photos above.


Doesn't look right to me either. Maybe WI has different kind lol


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## Scadsobees (Sep 21, 2006)

My first thought was elderberry. Then I found a picture comparing water hemlock to elderberry. Now I'd guess water hemlock.
https://permies.com/t/14625/Elderberry-leaves-Water-Hemlock-Leaves

If you have more pictures of the structure of the plant, where it was growing, etc that would help. Leaves only tell a small part of the story. There's a surprising number of plants that can look almost identical to poison ivy....

The fun part of these threads is learning about a lot of plants that are all around us but I never knew what they were....like devils beggars tick


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## eucman (Jan 24, 2009)

Scadsobees said:


> My first thought was elderberry. Then I found a picture comparing water hemlock to elderberry. Now I'd guess water hemlock.
> https://permies.com/t/14625/Elderberry-leaves-Water-Hemlock-Leaves
> 
> If you have more pictures of the structure of the plant, where it was growing, etc that would help. Leaves only tell a small part of the story. There's a surprising number of plants that can look almost identical to poison ivy....
> ...


That stuff is really common but most people don’t pay attention to it till they run into it in the fall. Then you have a garment or pet full of these:


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## Scadsobees (Sep 21, 2006)

eucman said:


> That stuff is really common but most people don’t pay attention to it till they run into it in the fall. Then you have a garment or pet full of these:


Oh I'm plenty familiar with the stickers, just never knew where they came from...


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## WALLEYE MIKE (Jan 7, 2001)

Scadsobees said:


> My first thought was elderberry. Then I found a picture comparing water hemlock to elderberry. Now I'd guess water hemlock.
> https://permies.com/t/14625/Elderberry-leaves-Water-Hemlock-Leaves
> 
> If you have more pictures of the structure of the plant, where it was growing, etc that would help. Leaves only tell a small part of the story. There's a surprising number of plants that can look almost identical to poison ivy....
> ...


Poison ivy will be a vine growing up something or crawling on the ground.
I've had many people also think virginia creeper is poison ivy but that has 5 leaves on a vine


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## cedarlkDJ (Sep 2, 2002)

Poison Sumac is the worst!


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## eucman (Jan 24, 2009)

cedarlkDJ said:


> Poison Sumac is the worst!


That's one I don't see much of. They are usually in wet soil areas. They do make an attractive small tree and, like poison ivy, has nice fall color!


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## Fishndude (Feb 22, 2003)

DanSS26 said:


> Does not look like poison ivy to me.
> 
> See walleye Mike's photos above.





WALLEYE MIKE said:


> Doesn't look right to me either. Maybe WI has different kind lol


Those sound like famous last words before the itching set in. :lol:

Oh, that is Poison Ivy, alright. I used to have a lawn service, and my left leg was covered with it for a couple weeks at the beginning of every year, from weed whipping. Once it starts to really grow, you figure out where it is. But when it is small, it is just another little plant that needs to be whipped. PI can grow as a vine, or a short small bush-type of plant. And, yes, it flowers. And you can pick up the urusiol (active ingredient) from all parts of the plant - stems, leaves, roots, flowers, and sap.


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## Bucket-Back (Feb 8, 2004)

Don't burn it, it messes with your breathing.


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## SteelSearchin (Apr 8, 2004)

Come on Steve, you outta know what poison ivy looks like!

Pretty sure she was the girl you met at the bar with buttonfly jeans back in our Spartan days! 

Hope all's well!

-tom


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## DanSS26 (Jul 10, 2008)

Fishndude said:


> Those sound like famous last words before the itching set in. :lol:
> 
> Oh, that is Poison Ivy, alright. I used to have a lawn service, and my left leg was covered with it for a couple weeks at the beginning of every year, from weed whipping. Once it starts to really grow, you figure out where it is. But when it is small, it is just another little plant that needs to be whipped. PI can grow as a vine, or a short small bush-type of plant. And, yes, it flowers. And you can pick up the urusiol (active ingredient) from all parts of the plant - stems, leaves, roots, flowers, and sap.


I've never seen any that looked like that. But I don't pay much attention to it because I'm not affected by it. I avoid it when I see it because I've heard if I get exposed to it enough times I could have a reaction. I have been exposed to it a whole lot. As a kid, the neighbors would call regularly to ask me to get the ball that went into the poison ivy. Then I had to take it in and wash it real good for them. Can't tell you how many times I was working side by side with someone that got it real bad while weed whipping, clearing woods, cutting down trees, etc.


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## WALLEYE MIKE (Jan 7, 2001)

Fishndude said:


> Those sound like famous last words before the itching set in. :lol:
> 
> Oh, that is Poison Ivy, alright. I used to have a lawn service, and my left leg was covered with it for a couple weeks at the beginning of every year, from weed whipping. Once it starts to really grow, you figure out where it is. But when it is small, it is just another little plant that needs to be whipped. PI can grow as a vine, or a short small bush-type of plant. And, yes, it flowers. And you can pick up the urusiol (active ingredient) from all parts of the plant - stems, leaves, roots, flowers, and sap.


Googled it and couldn't find any that looked like the picture. It did resemble poison poison oak much more than poison ivy.
Both contain the same active ingredient.


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## eucman (Jan 24, 2009)

kroppe said:


> View attachment 568951
> 
> 
> Poison ivy, also note its white flowers in the upper part of the photo
> ...


Nice picture! Excellent example of the wide range of soil types poison ivy tolerates! For some reason a lot of people recognize it as poison ivy when in vine form and climbing up a tree. Some people want to call it poison oak when it has some of those flower structures or developed white berry clusters jutting out from the vine.
No poison oak around the Great Lakes 
564 × 305


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## CHASINEYES (Jun 3, 2007)

WALLEYE MIKE said:


> Doesn't look right to me either. Maybe WI has different kind lol


That's definitely poison ivy. I've noticed 3-4 varieties, that or fewer, but in different stages of maturity. It seems some really don't climb, stay small vined and just crawl across the ground. Another like pictured in Kroppe's post, sort of a small bush type. The large vined variety that will consume entire trees. The later has small branches running out off the main vine that leaf out and the leaves are larger with a dark green compared to other varietys. Also have seen the one you posted with the blunt and jagged tipped leaves.


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## WALLEYE MIKE (Jan 7, 2001)

CHASINEYES said:


> That's definitely poison ivy. I've noticed 3-4 varieties, that or fewer, but in different stages of maturity. It seems some really don't climb, stay small vined and just crawl across the ground. Another like pictured in Kroppe's post, sort of a small bush type. The large vined variety that will consume entire trees. The later has small branches running out off the main vine that leaf out and the leaves are larger with a dark green compared to other varietys. Also have seen the one you posted with the blunt and jagged tipped leaves.


Can some of you guys find pictures on the net. I have tried but just come up with what I posted. Got a book here at home and that to only has the one I posted.


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## CHASINEYES (Jun 3, 2007)

WALLEYE MIKE said:


> Can some of you guys find pictures on the net. I have tried but just come up with what I posted. Got a book here at home and that to only has the one I posted.


MSU has several pictures. I don't see the large vined healthy stuff growing up trees though. Their description mentions red stems between the two lateral leaves as one of the identifiers.
https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/be_aware_of_poison_ivy_and_other_rash-producing_plants


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## Fishndude (Feb 22, 2003)

https://www.everydayhealth.com/pois...-climate-change-making-poison-ivy-more-toxic/

https://www.duluthnewstribune.com/l...-herbicide-most-effective-way-kill-poison-ivy

http://www.drkney.com/pted/poison_ivy.htm

http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/crops/facts/ontweeds/poison_ivy.htm


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## Scadsobees (Sep 21, 2006)

CHASINEYES said:


> That's definitely poison ivy.


Well, if you're talking about the first post, we've got a serious disagreement. I say it's definitely not. 
The only way to tell is... MSUICEMAN, can you rub some on your arm and let us know what happens? Nothing will happen, I promise.


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## CHASINEYES (Jun 3, 2007)

Scadsobees said:


> Well, if you're talking about the first post, we've got a serious disagreement. I say it's definitely not.
> The only way to tell is... MSUICEMAN, can you rub some on your arm and let us know what happens? Nothing will happen, I promise.


I agree. The first post in this thread is not poison ivy. Not even close. I may have misinterpreted some post as thinking the plant in post #9 was not PI.


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## FREEPOP (Apr 11, 2002)

Here's the straight poop MSUICEMAN

https://www.oardc.ohio-state.edu/weedguide/single_weed.php?id=11


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## Scadsobees (Sep 21, 2006)

Nah...the way the leaves are growing, with the smaller stem growing between the leaf and main stem...








https://nhgardensolutions.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/5-devils-beggartick-foliage.jpg


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## bobberbill (Apr 5, 2011)

Poison Ivy leaves will have at least one leaf that has a 'thumb'. Looks like a kids mitten. The thumb leaf is a sure sign. Several plants are look alikes, but no thumb.


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