Leaf guide › Vines
Poison ivy
Toxicodendron radicans
Leaves of three, let it be. Its fall color is gorgeous, and it can still give you a rash.
- Fall color
- RedRed-orangeYellow
- Turns
- Early to mid
- Leaves
- Alternate along the vine
- Size
- Leaflets 2–5 in. long
- Found in
- New England & New York, Great Lakes & North Woods, Appalachians, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, Midwest, Great Plains
Look, don’t touch. If you brush against it, wash the skin with soap and cool water as soon as you can, and wash clothing and gear too.
How to recognize it
- Three leaflets. The middle one sits on a longer stalk than the two side leaflets.
- Side leaflets often have a notch on the outer edge, like a mitten thumb.
- Edges may be smooth or have a few irregular teeth.
- Grows as a ground cover, a shrub, or a vine covered in hairy roots.
Where to find it
Look for it along forest edges, trails, fence lines, stone walls, and roadsides, climbing tree trunks as a hairy vine or spreading across the ground as a low plant.
Easy to confuse with
Virginia creeper
Five leaflets from one point, and no hairy roots on the vine.
Box elder seedlings
Also three leaflets, but the leaves grow in pairs across from each other.
Worth knowing
The oil that causes the rash, urushiol, stays active in fall and even on bare winter vines. Never burn it: the smoke can cause severe reactions. Here’s more on why poison ivy leaves change color in fall. On the West Coast, its cousin western poison oak plays the same role.
Common questions
What color does poison ivy turn in fall?
Poison ivy turns red, red-orange, and yellow, often all on the same plant. Leaves in the sun turn the reddest, and leaves in the shade often stay yellow.
When does poison ivy change color?
From early to the middle of the local season, often ahead of the trees it climbs.
How can you tell poison ivy from Virginia creeper?
Virginia creeper: Five leaflets from one point, and no hairy roots on the vine. Poison ivy: Three leaflets. The middle one sits on a longer stalk than the two side leaflets.
Where does poison ivy grow?
In the lower 48, look for it in New England & New York, the Great Lakes & North Woods, the Appalachians, the Mid-Atlantic, the Southeast, the Midwest, and the Great Plains.
See where the color is peaking today.
Open the foliage map