It’s Time To Prevent Poison Ivy

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The best way to deal with poison ivy is to prevent exposure altogether. Learn to recognize the plants and avoid them.

The National Park Service provides these descriptions of poisonous plants:

Poison ivy
It grows as a small shrub or vine trailing along the ground or climbing on low plants, trees and poles. The leaves are alternate with three pointed and glossy leaflets. The edges of the leaflets may be smooth or toothed, but they are rarely lobed. They are reddish when they first emerge in the spring, are green during the summer and are various shades of yellow, orange, red or bronze in the autumn. They can produce greenish-white flowers and whitish-yellow fruit in hanging clusters. It is most common in edges of woods, flood plains, lake shores, stream banks, along fences and around buildings.

Poison oak
It is similar to poison ivy, except its three leaflets are lobed or deeply toothed with rounded tips. In the east, it is mostly restricted to sandy soil, dry barrens, sand hills and oak-pine or pine woods.

Poison sumac
It is a tall shrub or small tree with alternate leaves with 7-11 leaflets arranged in pairs, and an additional single leaflet at the end of the midrib. It can produce yellowish green flowers and whitish green fruits that hang in loose clusters. Poison sumac grows in standing water in bogs, swamps and river bottoms.

If you are going to be in areas that commonly have one of these plants, wear long sleeves, long pants and gloves.

“You really need to be covered head to foot and remember not to touch your face. All you have to do is to touch one part of your skin,” Dr. Lee said.