Virginia creeper vs. poison ivy

Both vines climb the same trees and stone walls, and both turn brilliant red in fall. One is harmless to touch for most people, and the other can give you a rash for weeks. The quickest way to tell them apart is to count the leaflets: five for Virginia creeper, three for poison ivy.

Count the leaflets

Each “leaf” on both plants is really a cluster of leaflets. Virginia creeper has five, all attached at one point at the end of the stem, so the leaf looks like an open hand. Poison ivy has three. The two side leaflets sit close to the stem, and the middle one reaches out on a longer stalk of its own. That’s where the old rhyme comes from: “Leaves of three, let it be.”

Young Virginia creeper shoots can sometimes have three leaflets, so if a three-part leaf is your only clue, don’t touch it until you’ve checked the vine and the rest of the plant.

Look at the vine

On a tree trunk or a wall, the vines look very different up close. An older poison ivy vine is covered in fuzzy, reddish-brown roots that grip the bark, giving it the look of a hairy rope. Virginia creeper has no hairy roots. It climbs with branching tendrils that end in small, sticky pads pressed against the surface.

Check the berries

By fall, both plants have berries, and they don’t look alike. Virginia creeper’s berries are dark blue on bright red stalks. Poison ivy’s are small, round, and whitish to pale gray. Birds eat both, but Virginia creeper berries are toxic to people, and no part of poison ivy should be handled.

In fall, both turn red

Fall makes them easier to spot and harder to tell apart, since both are among the first plants to color. Virginia creeper turns crimson to deep purple-red, often while the trees it climbs are still green. Poison ivy turns red, red-orange, and yellow, often all on the same plant, with leaves in the sun turning reddest. The rash-causing oil stays active in fall and even on bare winter vines. There’s more on why in why poison ivy changes color.

Other look-alikes

Box elder seedlings also have three leaflets, but their leaves grow in pairs across from each other on the stem, while poison ivy’s alternate. In the West, poison ivy’s relative, western poison oak, plays the same role, with three leaflets that look more like oak leaves. And poison sumac, a shrub of wet ground in the East, has the same rash-causing oil.

If you touch poison ivy

Wash the skin with soap and cool water as soon as you can, and wash clothing, tools, and gear, plus a pet’s fur if it ran through a patch, since the oil can spread from them. Never burn poison ivy: the smoke can cause severe reactions. Get medical care for a severe or widespread rash, a rash near the eyes or face, or any trouble breathing.