Types of Vines
Poison Ivy, Poison Oak Poison Ivy, Poison Oak, and Poison Sumac Poison Ivy, Poison Oak, and Poison Sumac, common names applied to three plants of a genus in the cashew family, capable of producing an allergic reaction in people who have become sensitized to them. Poison ivy and poison oak are variants of a single plant (sometimes treated as separate species by botanists), different mainly in the shape of their leaflets. Both are woody perennial plants of roadsides, thickets, hedgerows, and open woods, and one or the other is found throughout the United States and southern Canada. They may take the form of vines climbing up tree trunks to considerable height, shrubs or subshrubs standing erect by themselves, or vines trailing on the forest floor, sometimes also trailing out into meadows from hedgerows. Distinguishing characteristics include the regular grouping of three leaflets in each leaf, and stiff clusters of small, yellowish or white berries that appear in summer and fall. Other c...