FIELD ID CHARACTERISTICS:
"Leaves of three, let them be," is a good reminder with this plant, which can cause a severe rash in people allergic to poison ivy. Hairy vines and upright branch tips are helpful in identification. Seeds are poisonous.
Description: Deciduous, high climbing, woody vine with distinctive hairy, aerial roots. When unsupported, may take a shrubby growth form of slender, unbranched stems up to 1 m tall.
Leaves: Alternate, shiny, thin leaves with 3 ovate (sometimes toothed) leaflets with pointed ends. Leaves variable but end leaflet is on a long stalk.
Flowers/Fruit: Panicles of white or light green nondescript flowers later produce light green or white, berry-like drupes that dry tan and often persist into winter. Blooms late April through May; fruits August to October.
Habit and Range: Found throughout North Carolina in a wide variety of habitats including freshwater and brackish wetlands, dry uplands.
COMMON CONFUSIONS:
Acer negundo (box elder) (tree) has very similar leaves to Toxicodendron radicans (eastern poison ivy) but the growth form of Acer negundo is more robust, with green-twigs; if leaves are shiny, they are more likely to be T. radicans. Saplings of Acer negundo may be difficult to distinguish from T. radicans. Parthenocissus quinquefolia (Virginia creeper) may be mistaken for T. radicans, but has sets of five leaves instead of sets of three. Young plants can be confused with Arisaema triphyllum (Jack-in-the-pulpit).
Click here to view Acer negundo.
Click here to view Arisaema triphyllum.
Link to side-by-side comparisons page
