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Poison Ivy
On Fri, 21 Jul 2006 00:42:45 -0400, Steve
wrote: Leon Fisk wrote: On Tue, 18 Jul 2006 01:06:29 GMT, fran wrote: Well, I was vindicated today. For years I have maintained that there is a 5-leaf version of poison ivy and no-one believed me. Today I pulled up a poison ivy vine by the roots, and found both the standard 3-leaflet sets *and* the 5-leaflet sets on it! And yes, they were from one plant - there was only one small root. Silly me, though, I didn't think to take a photo of it until just now - when it's already met it's fate. Oh well, I'll just have to wait - I'm sure I'll find the (#&%&^% stuff again. Just in case you're curious, the 5-leaflet set looks like the 3-leaflet set, except there are 2 more small leaves on the outside forming a neat circle of leaves. The notches are the same and everything. This version looks verrry like another vine that is called wandering jenny, as I recall. Makes me wonder if they are related. Call me skeptical, I'd want to see it myself to be sure Virginia creeper has tendrils, Poison Ivy (PI) has aerial rootlets. Think "hairy rope" when looking for a PI vine. Look up tendrils and then aerial rootlets to see the difference between them. Box Elder (more properly called Ash leave Maple) has opposite leaves. Usually only three leaflets on young trees only 1-2 feet tall. Mature trees have 3-7 leaflets. PI always has **alternate leaves**. Here is some crappy ASCII art. Opposite: | ---|--- | ---|--- | | Alternate: | |--- | ---| | |--- | There are only six other common species with three leaflets and alternate leaves. Poison Oak- questionable if it even differs from PI and should be classified differently. Fragrant Sumac - Could be confused with PI. Cissus - much different. Hoptree - not all that uncommon, but I've only seen it in one particular area by me. Could be confused with PI. Scotch Broom - much different. Bicolor Lespedeza - much different. Most of the common plants that look similar to PI have opposite leaves and can be eliminated quickly with this knowledge from a distance. The shape of the leaves, toothed, smooth, irregular, is meaningless and not a good method for identification of PI. Leon, You are going to seriously confuse those people who don't know the difference between leaves and leaflets. You always hear that poison ivy has 3 leaves, right? How often is is described as having 3 leaflets? Not very often, by comparison. Steve PS I could tell a story about a woman who worked for the cooperative extension in my county. She just couldn't understand the concept of pruning tomato plants when grown on a stake. We finally realized that the problem was she didn't understand that tomato leaves have leaflets. Hi Steve, Well if they get a bit confused they'll just have to look up a few things now won't they I little bit of knowledge never hurt anyone, did it? The link you posted earlier was good. The third picture has an obvious tendril though, not PI. I noticed too that the overall appearance to the stem just didn't look right to me either for it to be PI. It is always much easier when you have the real specimen too. If a person can just remember alternate leaves and aerial rootlets it will save you a whole lot of grief. PI has been expanding around me. It is almost everywhere I go now, or would like to go. Ugh! -- Leon Fisk Grand Rapids MI/Zone 5b Remove no.spam for email |
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