Dr. Grow: Identificatiokn best way to avoid poison ivy

Ever since I began writing this column, I've been itching to report on poison ivy (ital)(Toxicodendrong radicans (unital) or (ital) Rhus radicans (unital) or (ital) Rhus toxicodendrong (unital) depending upon which text you use). My first introduction to the plant was at Camp Lewallen in 1956. I came home with a head-to-toe, both-eyes-swollen-shut rash that resulted in numerous trips to see Dr. Cochran, a six-week layoff from Little League Baseball, the use of gallons of calamine lotion, no trips to the swimming pool, and all in all, a pretty miserable summer.

My summer camp experience was just the beginning of many preventative Ivyol shots, bouts with rashes, and even a one-week stay in the University of Missouri Student Health Clinic during February of my freshman year. Needless to say I realized I should learn to identify this plant so I could skirt around it when I was in the woods. As a sophomore at Mizzou, I took a course call dendrology, the identification of woody plants. I finally learned how to identify this noxious plant and separate it from its somewhat look-alikes.

I thought you might be interested in the knowledge I've gained through the need for self-preservation. Poison ivy is often confused with several other plants:boxelder, aromatic sumac, trumpet creeper, and Virginia creeper. Poison ivy has a compound leaf. This leaf consists of three leaflets attached together on a rachis. This rachis is then attached to the ivy vine in an alternating fashion. The edges of the leaflets have saw-toothed indentations. The plant can either be a ground cover, vine, or in some cases, small trees. In the fall the leaves turn an attractive red, and the plant has small white berries. All in all poison ivy is a nice plant and could be very useful in the landscape if it weren't so noxious.

Boxelder (a member of the maple genus) is a tree that can get 50 to 60 feet tall. As a young seedling it is often mistaken for poison ivy. You can separate it from poison ivy because it has three or five leaflets (not just three) and because its rachii are attached to the twigs in an opposite fashion.

Aromatic sumac, trumpet creeper and Virginia creeper are all ground covers and vines with compound leaves. Aromatic sumac has compound leaflets in threes, but the margins of the leaves are rounded, not saw-toothed. Trumpet creeper has five to nine leaflets and Virginia creeper has leaflets in five.

The presence of poison ivy is not limited to the woods. I have found it cultivated in the landscape of a local bank, in ground cover beds that are part of home landscapes and even in potted plants at a nursery. I'm sure the buyers were in for a rude surprise when they got home.

If you find poison ivy in your landscape, get rid of it as soon as possible. Spray either trimec, glyphosate or triclopyr on the leaves. These products can be found at most garden centers under various trade names. Use of these products on the vine, on the roots, in the soil will have an effect. Depending upon the size of the plant, several applications may be needed for complete control. Do not remove the dead vines for several months. The noxious oil will be present for a long time in the dead vines.

If the vine is entwined in another landscape plant, apply the herbicides on the leaves of the poison ivy with a paint brush. This keeps unwanted spray drift off of the non-targeted plant you want to protect.

If you inadvertently brush against poison ivy while working around your landscape, immediately wash the exposed skin area with soap and water. Without washing, the oil secreted from bruised poison ivy plant tissue can cause a very annoying and sometimes painful rash. I always wash with Tecnu soap if I know I have been around poison ivy. Even if I can't wash for four or five hours after exposure, Tecnu will still eliminate most rashes. I've also found that developed rashes will dry up more quickly when washed with Tecnu. Most pharmacies and some garden centers carry Tecnu.

You don't have to be near poison ivy to get exposed. Poison ivy oils can be transferred from plant to you by your pet, by handling clothes that were worn and brushed against poison ivy or by being exposed to smoke resulting from burning poison ivy vines and leaves.

I know from experience poison ivy can be very unhealthy if not very annoying. Learn to identify it, know how to get rid of it and know what to do if you have been exposed to it. Someday you may find it next to your front door.

Paul Schnare of Cape Girardeau has been in the lawn and garden gursiness for more than 20 years. He's an adjunct professor in horticulture at Southeast Missouri State University.