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Is this poison ivy?

8 years ago

This plant surrounds my friend's house and driveway in Vermont. At first I was sure that it was poison ivy but my friend is certain that it is not. Looking more closely I am now uncertain. A couple of points in the "not poison ivy" category are:

it does not appear to be a vine
the three leave clusters are not pure 3 leaves. Rather, it is more accurate to say the "main stem" branches three leaf cluster A, B and C. Cluster A appears is three truly distinct leaves. However Clusters B and C are made up of a single distinct leaf plus a second leaf that looks like two leaves merged together. Note that this is consistent through the entire ground coverage and not unique to the one in the closeup picture.

I fall in the "better safe than sorry" camp but this covers every wild stretch around the property, both flat areas and banks so it is inevitable that the kids or the dogs will get into it.

So should I be afraid? Very, very afraid?

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Comments (4)

macranthos
8 years ago
You should be afraid. It's Bishopsweed, Aegopodium. It's vigorous and hard to eradicate. But some people like the green mat.
Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
8 years ago
You made very good observations. "It's not a vine" is the primary one. Agree, abso-tively posi-lutely not PI, definitely goutweed, another common name for Aegopodium. One heckuva hard-to-get-rid-of plant, when attempted. As you can see, it's not a team player, there's nothing else sharing its' space.
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Thanks guys for the information. oldtimer I'm not quitting with the composting, it just won't be a pretty compost pile like some of the photos I see in this site. If I decide to house a small goat, I have a larger dog kennel that I intend to keep it when it is not outside "working" eradicating the poison oak, poison ivy and, yes, we have poison sumac too, the goat will have to stay in the dog kennel. I will be outside to make sure the goat is safe for we have seen coyatoes walk through the yard. The goat will be borrowed just for the purpose of a safe way to get rid of the poison mess. Kimmsr, I went to fire ant control site and realized that we need to fight the ants in the fall, probably all year in North Ga area. The fire ants were here when we brought the property, which surprised me for it was a vacant hill top property, but the previous owners had a tomato garden up here. I suppose the ants could have been brought in to the area in tomato plants? Anyway, thanks guys, and I will be careful when fighting the poisons out there. I have to suit up to work in the yard, complete with long sleeves, long pants with my socks over the top of the pant legs. Plus, of course gloves. Reason: Ants love me, they seem to track me down, plus I'm sensitive to poison sumac and hubby is very sensitive to the other two. The socks pulled over the top of the pant legs is to ensure no ants crawl into my clothing. We have mean fire ants in GA.
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Is this poison ivy or poison oak or something else?
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Comments (3)
leave of three for PI .. leaves of 5 for this bird spread nightmare ... lol .. that sprig can grow 5 to 10 feet this year ... its just fine in the woods ... but not going to be great.. in your garden .. ken
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Is this poison ivy or poison oak?
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Comments (1)
No photo.
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Is this Poison Ivy or some other type of ivy?
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Comments (8)
My feeling is the same as Smivies, though I have seen climbing PI here and I have seen vines other than PI with aerial roots. Though a bit out of focus, the smaller vines look more like Virginia creeper/Parthenocissus quinquefolia. Be aware that some folks react to Virginia creeper as well as to PI, so treat both with respect. Once leaves emerge, you can repost to get a firm ID.
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jnavarro31
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
Yup, definitely goutweed (bishopsweed). My neighbor planted the variegated kind ages ago, and it constantly sends out runners that have reverted to the aggressive green kind. The stuff is relentless and will take over my flower bed if I'm not diligent about picking it and getting the rhizomes. That tends to be a lot of work, so usually I just get as much of it as I can and consider it a good day if I can temporarily halt its advance. I'll never be rid of it since I can't very well go into my neighbors yard and carpet-bomb her patch with Roundup (and I doubt even that would be fully effective). I don't know what's worse, creeping charlie or goutweed.
ajs317
8 years ago
While you can't roundup plants in your neighbor's yard, you can sure roundup parts that spring up in your own. If that has the effect of weakening the plant across the border, well so be it.

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