So much calamine lotion as a kid...

June 26, 2011 1:12 PM

Is this poison ivy? If not, what is it?

The place where I walk my dog is overgrown with this plant. It's got white flowers and clusters of three leaves alternating sides, so I'm paranoid. But, the shape of the leaves doesn't match most of the google image search results.

I'm outside Philadelphia, PA, USA.

posted by Netzapper to Science & Nature (15 answers total)

Doesn't look like any poison ivy I've ever seen. As you said, the leaf shape is all wrong. No idea what it is though.
posted by Stewriffic at 1:17 PM on June 26, 2011

Definitely not PI.
posted by entropone at 1:31 PM on June 26, 2011 [1 favorite]

Nope. Poison ivy will always have sawtooth leaf edges on the middle leaf, and only on the bottom edge of the two lower leaves. You've got smooth edges on all three leaves, so no PI.
posted by deadmessenger at 1:39 PM on June 26, 2011 [2 favorites]

No idea what it is, but that looks nothing like poison ivy.
posted by pecanpies at 1:44 PM on June 26, 2011

It looks like some kind of pea or lespedeza. It's not PI, however. PI is darker green and smooth and shiny on top. If they're growing on the ground, they're usually only a couple feet tall but the stems aren't straight like that, they'll have a little curve like they're reaching up rather than shooting up, and the stems are dark and woody-ish, not fleshy, but slender. If they're climbing (it's actually a vine that climbs) they have hairy rootlets all along the stem that hold them to the tree, kind of like Virginia Creeper (leaflets of 5) or English Ivy (with single leaves).
posted by Red Loop at 2:02 PM on June 26, 2011

I think the flower is a type of plantain, maybe this one, and not part of the main plant (which I can't place yet).
posted by notquitemaryann at 2:15 PM on June 26, 2011

Best answer: I live in Virginia and have backpacked up through PA; that doesn't look like any poison ivy I've ever seen.
posted by introp at 6:20 PM on June 26, 2011

yeah, not poison ivy. it looks so familiar . . . a bit like kudzu, maybe?
posted by miss patrish at 6:45 PM on June 26, 2011

Totally not PI.
posted by unSane at 7:48 PM on June 26, 2011

Poison ivy will always have sawtooth leaf edges on the middle leaf...

That's not true.

This video shows poison ivy leaves that do not have sawtooth edges. So does this one. See also the first picture of poison ivy at Wikipedia. Seriously, the sawtooth edges thing is *not* a 100% reliable indicator. The leaves are variable and can sometimes not have any notches at all.
posted by mediareport at 8:10 AM on June 27, 2011 [1 favorite]

(But I agree the picture in the post doesn't look like any poison ivy I've ever seen.)
posted by mediareport at 8:12 AM on June 27, 2011 [1 favorite]

Poison ivy doesn't have flowers.
posted by stormpooper at 10:16 AM on June 27, 2011

Poison ivy doesn't have flowers.


Wrong. It blooms late spring before you really notice it.
posted by unSane at 12:12 PM on June 27, 2011 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: If anybody's still watching this, what about this plant?
posted by Netzapper at 11:56 AM on June 30, 2011

Best answer: yes, that's yer basic poison ivy right there. don't lick it.
posted by miss patrish at 7:49 PM on June 30, 2011