Hi all. I have a plant with big leaves coming from my neighborhood backyard that looks like a poison ivy plan but is not exactly the same. The reason I ask is because I was working in the backyard last weekend close to that plant and developed a rash in my arm. It improved in a couple of day but somone at work commented that it could be poison ivy. I Iooked up poison ivy and this is the plant closer to its look that I could find in my backyard. Any experts that could shed some knowledge?Thanks in advance,
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Regarding poison ivy. There are a few sort of “look alikes”. The most tricky look alike I’ve seen is Virginia creeper. Virginia Creeper generally has 5 leaves (not 3 like poison ivy) But I have seen immature Virginia Creeper with 3 leaves and the leaves do look quite alot like poison ivy, unless you look pretty closely.
The thing is some people are allergic to Virginia creeper. So you really can’t tell if you have poison ivy because of a rash. You could just be allergic to some other plant you came in contact with. The only sure way to tell is to positively identify the plant.
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This is poison ivy.
Very common in my woods and edge of my fields or back yard.
Leaves of 3… let it be.
Poison ivy makes a raised blister type rash on me… and if you scratch it… it gets worse and spreads. Benadryl… for a few days helps clear it up for me.
TNHunter
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There is a poison oak… the leaves on it are more oak tree leaf like.
It is not common here.
Stinging nettle will fire you up immediatly… you will know instantly when you run into it.
Some funky looking poison oak. I’ve also seen a few strange leaf morphs on poison oak which make it blend in perfectly with our wild blackberries. Both are vining and have leaves in sets of three, so you really gotta look out when you’re pulling blackberries here.
Posion oak gives me a horrible, blistering, spreading rash that has gone systemic on me more than once. My latest treatment is shower with fels-naptha and scratch the rash with the bar. Once out of the shower, cotten swab it all down with Isopropyl rubbing alcohol, and once that dries, apply calamine lotion. I repeat this process once a day before bed until the poison oak is done.
I know someone else who simply applies the rubbing alcohol like 5-6 times a day on the rash and he claims that dries it up real fast.
Some people also build an immunity to poison oak. My dad claims he’s nevers caught poison oak ever since he was stabbed in the face as a kid by a large, dripping vine in the spring time (apparently a very unfun experience). Another friend of his claims to be immune ever since he drank goat milk from goats that ate the stuff.
A childhood friend’s sister was immune to it while me and him were horribly allergic. My wife has never had it so we assume that she may be immune too. Sadly shes not up for testing it directly so it remains theoretical.
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