Poison Ivy vs Box Elder - Simple Trick to Tell Them Apart
Вставка
- Опубліковано 27 лип 2024
- Learn how to tell an invasive tree from a valuable native tree in this video: 🌳🌳🌳🌳 • Tree of Heaven vs Bla... 🌳🌳🌳🌳
Plants such as young box elder trees are often mistaken for the rash causing poison ivy and poison oak. In this nature note, a quick, simple way to tell them apart is shown. No need to touch the plants for this method to work!
===========================
Connect with us!
=============================
Blog: www.backyardecology.net/blog
Podcast: www.backyardecology.net/podcast
Facebook: / backyardecology
===========================
Help support the channel!!
=============================
Purchase our book: Attract Pollinators and Wildlife to Your Yard - 15 Free and Easy Ways: shannontrimboli.com/shop/
Patreon: / backyardecology
Or you can give a one-time donation at:
PayPal Donate:
www.paypal.com/donate/?cmd=_s...
🌻🌻🌻🌻 Video Services I Use and Recommend 🌻🌻🌻🌻
I am a member of the Think Media Video Ranking Academy and can honestly say it has been a huge boost in getting this channel off the ground! Well designed program and great support! If you are a UA-camr you owe it to yourself to check out what they have to offer.
Check out a FREE class here: courses.seancannell.com/a/214...
Or if you are super serious about making UA-cam a career, go all in and go straight to the VRA signup: courses.seancannell.com/a/214...
I also use the vidIQ browser extension which basically supercharges your UA-cam analytics and provides greater insights into how your channel is performing. It also includes some super cool AI tools and channel audit capabilities that are incredibly helpful with refining your UA-cam game! They have both free and paid versions.
Try out the FREE vidIQ tools here and learn about what vidIQ can do for you and your channel: vidiq.com/backyardecology
* These are affiliate links and we earn a small commission from purchases made when using them, so using them helps to support the Backyard Ecology channel!
Chapters:
0:00 Are They Different?
0:25 Poison Ivy Toxicodendron radicans
0:33 Western Poison Ivy Toxicodendron rydbergii
0:38 Atlantic Poison Oak Toxicodendron pubescens
0:49 Box Elder Acer negundo
0:57 Identification by Leaf Arrangement
1:20 Identification by Bud Arrangement
1:25 Leaflet Number Per Leaf Box Elder and Toxicodendron Species - Домашні улюбленці та дикі тварини
What tricks do you use to help identify poison ivy? Also, be sure to check out our online classes: shannontrimboli.com/events/category/classes/
At 11 seconds, i think you are pointing to the wrong plant. The one on the right side of the screen is poison ivy. Not the left side of the screen.
@@jonathans1472 Nope. This is why simple leaf characteristics are not a great way to ID these two plants. Poison ivy has quite variable leaflets.
@@BackyardEcology i was recently trained by texas master naturalists that poison Ivy has 3 leaves. They said the left leaf is a mitten with the thumb out to the left. They said the right leaf has the thumb out to the right and that the middle/top leaf has two thumbs. That looks like the one on the right side of the image. Lovely. Now, I am really confused.
@@jonathans1472 I have seen poison ivy with perfectly entire leaflet margins, several large teeth and even partial lobes. It is a very phenotypically plastic species. But it will always have an alternate leaf arrangement, and the buds are quite distinctive.
@@BackyardEcology ok. Ty!
Thank you. Very helpful. But it'd be better if you didn't switch which side of the screen the plants were on at the end.
Glad you found it helpful! This was one of my earlier videos. I try to keep things more consistent these days.
@@BackyardEcology Good to hear. Consistency is a marvelous tool for reducing confusion.
That's the first thing I noticed after viewing the video.
Good stuff! Only thing I would add is, poison ivy has hairy vines.
@@sweynforkbeardtraindude Thanks! When growing in the vine form it has tons of adventitious roots - the hairy vines. When growing as ground cover or as a small shrub poison ivy does not have these.
Precise info, no noise, great video. Thanks for your knowledge.
Glad it was helpful!
Good video, BUT...
Switching sides of the screen at the end could be confusing for some viewers.
Noted!
I agree
Gd man finally a simple video thatakes things really clear. Literally thousands of silly leaf comparisons that don't help at all. The branching is the key and easiest distinction to make and have been looking for a simple video to share with people. Thanks
Thanks! Glad you liked the video and found it useful.
Right? Quick, clear, and concise.
Finally! I have box elder trees and a small patch of woods. Over the 35 years we have lived here, I have looked occasionally for poison ivy and poison oak. Well, the plentiful box elder "helicopters" sprout in the woods and have leaves of three. And look a lot like poison ivy. Many of our neighbors have oak trees and I have those acorns spring up here and there, courtesy of our abundant squirrels. BTW, we have walnut trees and mulberry trees, just to add to the fun. Anyway, I would see leaves of three and wonder why I never seem to have gotten poison ivy, when I am sensitive to contact with some things outside. Now I know. So grateful.
Glad you found the video useful!
Sometimes raspberries (also 3 leaflets) and Virginia Creeper (which generally has 5, but newer growth often shows just 3) can confuse for poison ivy, too.
@@pamelah6431 Young blackberries and raspberries look very much like poison ivy. They quickly grow to a size where they don't, but when they first come up they can be tricky to tell apart at a glance.
@@pamelah6431 I just heard about Virginia Creeper. I thought we had a Poison Ivy vine growing upward on the trunk of a pine tree in the yard. A neighbor said it wasn't Poison Ivy because the vine wasn't a typical red color. He called ours Virginia Creeper since the vine section was green.
@@SPCLPONY Virginia Creeper has 5 leaflets that radiate from a central point. Poison Ivy has 3 leaflets; 2 are directly across one another and a third is straight up between them on a longer stem. :)
Oooh, wow. I'm from Finland and we don't those poisonous vines. I've been here for a long time & not never seen (?) or touched any of those until about a year ago. I had to clean up an area in my yard. Was full of all sorts of growth. I remember pulling a bunch of vines. I didn't know. Omg. I mean OMG ! First time experience. Got it all over my both arms & both inner legs from shorts to angles. It truly was a one helluva horrible experience. So much pain. So much oozing yak. Part of my fence is now full of vines of all sorts and I am scared. I am now counting leaves !! I really like the leaf arrangement tip. Easy to see. Thank you 👍👍
Ouch! Poison ivy rash is no fun. Hopefully you will be able to ID this time and avoid it.
@@BackyardEcology Oh, heck yeah. I am now looking & being careful. I hope to never experience that again. Thanks again.
@@PaiviProject Here's something about poison ivy to keep in mind that many people don't realize... The oily liquid that causes the rash, urushiol, can get transferred from the plant to your clothing and to your skin. You need to be diligent about washing any clothing that may have touched the poison ivy. Once you've dealt with the clothing, a thorough scrubbing of any skin that might have been exposed to the urushiol is not a bad idea either.
Good luck... As you learned, that stuff can be nasty to deal with.
@@PaiviProject "I am now looking & being careful. I hope to never experience that again. Thanks again."
To add to what StoneE4 said about scrubbing: Use a dishwashing liquid, like Dawn, *_with no water at all_* at first. NO WATER!!! Apply the straight dishwashing liquid to the skin, and rub it in will. Use a lot.
Once you have it well worked in, start adding a bit of water, rub it in well, add a bit of water, rub, and so on..
If you add water right away it actually prevents the detergent from contacting the oil. You want to get the oil thoroughly attached to the detergent before introducing any water. This is based on how they interact chemically.
This also helps when cleaning any ordinary oil or grease, not just urishiol. Worked on your car and your hands are a mess? Follow this method.
Detergent first, THEN water.
@@Packhorse-bh8qnCool! Thanks! Makes sense and will really help out around here. Unless it is an unusually small case, whenever I get the dreaded poison ivy or poison oak, my doctor has to shoot me with steroids to ease my symptoms. Luckily, I’ve called myself pretty careful, so the dreaded skin bubbles and soul-sucking urge to scratch seldom appear. Backyard Ecology’s video and your tip will be lifelong saviors for me.👍🏻👏🏻
People like you make the world a better place . Thank you for the useful information . Stay safe !!!!!!
Thanks, you too!
I was so glad when I first figured that out since I was scared before to touch anything that looked like poison ivy. Learning those little differences is so helpful thanks for putting this out there so others can learn and not fear the hundreds of boxelder seedling that pop up in many yards each year
Glad you found the video helpful!
As a truck driver who utilizes the employee restroom at the rear of a dropped trailer, I find this video very helpful.
Extremely high quality content
Thank you!
I’m 65 and I’ve only had a case of poison Ivy itching once. It was excruciating and I came to the conclusion that I would never wish that on my worst enemy.
You're way too nice because I know a LOT of people that I'd wish it on. OK. So I'm evil.
Thank you for showing examples. I've had a giant tree in my side yard that I had no idea what it was until today. I was gardening and I saw a new sprout that looked suspiciously like poison ivy. I was panicking a little. Husband and I watched a ton of videos but non of them confirmed it wasn't poison ivy. I saw an image comparing p.ivy to box elder and I saw box elder trees have the same seed pods my tree does. Finally found your video with confirmed our sprout has leaves opposite each other. Damn they look so close it scary.
Glad you found the video useful! They do look very similar.
Straight to the point, no games, no-nonsense. Just subscribed. Thanks.
Thanks for the sub!
I took notes; and will check out the suspects in my yard. Thanks.
Bro thank you. You have no idea how far this will help me
Glad you found the video helpful!
Thanks. Short, sweet, and informative. Also I really love that fence for some reason
Glad you liked it!
And we didn't have to change gears half way through to hear about Nord VPN's great sign up deal.
The alternating leaf stem pattern is something I never heard of. Good tip.
Thanks! Glad you found it helpful!
I get a lot of poison ivy plants in my backyard so I have specimens to examine up close, thank you for this information!
Thank you! We have maple trees and assumed they were covered in poison ivy. Im gonna go check the leaf node placement!
Thanks for the straight to the point, helpful video. 😊
Glad you found it useful!
love a video like this. To the point, SHORT no "listen to me run on". Thanks you.🦇
Glad you enjoyed!
Thank you! You just saved our whole family from an anxiety attack.
Glad you found the video helpful!
Thank you for the explanation. Clear and easy to remember.
Glad it was helpful!
Thank you for clearing this important plant identification up for me.
Glad you found the video helpful!
Someone who knows what he is talking about. Had to hit the subscribe button. Thanks
Thanks for the sub!
Thank you! Great info
GREAT informational video! Box Elder is also a great wood for wood carving.
Thanks!
I’ve made up an old new saying “leaves of green, leave the scene . “ Leaves of three, leave it be. but I just play it safe
Don't forget; "Berries white, poisonous site!"
You are SO helpful to me!! 💕💕💕
Happy to help!
Great video, very helpful! Thank you!
Glad it was helpful!
Thank you. Very informative stuff.
Glad you found it useful!
Really helped me out! Thank you!
Glad you found the video helpful!
Love it! Thank you.
Good video. Thanks!
This is great infrmation. Thank you!
Glad it was helpful!
Brilliant video ❤ Thank you 🙏
Glad it was helpful!
Thank you for saying the scientific names!
Glad you find them helpful! They are the only names that tell you the exact plant - the common names are super confusing. Some don't like that I use scientific names, but honestly it is the only way to be certain what plant is being discussed.
Extremely important and very helpful info, thanks!
💚😊💚
Glad it was helpful!
good info....thanks
Super helpful thank you
Glad you found it helpful!
Just found your videos like that they are short and informative very nicely done thank you
Glad you like them!
Great!, short and to the point.
Thanks!
yessss thank you this is so useful
Glad it was helpful!
Outstanding!… good to know!
Thank you for this important info..
Glad it was helpful!
Right to the point. Well done.
Thanks!
Poison Ivy never bothered me, even though it was everywhere growing up in the Chippewa National Forest, unlike my wife, who is highly affected by it. I actually would pick it to show people what poison Ivy looked like. I have always been asked the same question: Why are you touching it? Now, stinging nettle, that's another story!
I use to nor be bothered by poison ivy, and then one day I was. Immunity can come and go so just be aware. It is great while you have it though!
Thank you very kindly!
I was able to correctly identify the little box elder that started growing in my yard and will let it be for now. 😅
You're welcome! Glad it was helpful.
Thank you!
That was great! Thanks!
Glad you liked it!
Oh! This is handy, thank you! I have a couple of Box Elder saplings on my ppty and noticed I now have a stand of poison Ivey….or maybe just Box Elder again. This is helpful!
Glad you found the video helpful!
Short and to the point. Thanks. Only minor quibble - maybe switching from box elder on the right (1.08-1.25) to box elder on the left (1.26-1.34) makes the difference harder to visualize.
Thanks! This is an older video, my newer vids are much more consistent.
Good video❤
In under 2 minutes, you did a good job of pointing out how to tell them apart, without just saying touch the plant in a way that will make it obvious very quickly which it is based on whether you itch or not. Plus, you point out some other things about them the combination of plants that not everyone knows. The only thing I would change is in the last comparison image, since the prior two images put poison ivy on the left and box elder on the right, and the last image swapped their places, which could lead people to remember things incorrectly. Consistency can help. But it's nice to see videos that are under 2 minutes, rather than 10+ minutes to say enough for people to benefit from it, and without being so short that you have to talk really fast to get it under a minute or half minute like some people do for other platforms.
Thanks! Glad you liked the format. This is one of my older videos - I try to keep things much mire consistent in my newer vids.
An interesting idea for a video. Although several plants can easily be confused with poison ivy, I find that box elder seedlings are the leaves that are the trickiest. Everything in this video is correct, but my advice is: if you're unsure, don't try to figure it out. Just don't touch it.
Thanks! And great advice! When in doubt just leave it alone, works great for poisonous plants, snakes, and a lot of other things in nature.
Ones a tree and ones a vine. Although, the poison ivy on my fence looks like a tree, but it has been growing there for about 25 years. It's oil looked like pine sap while i was cutting it down and it was the worst I've ever gotten poison ivy. Usually i can just pull out poison ivy with my bare hands and never get it, but that stuff STRONG!!!
Poison ivy is a super variable plant and can grow as a vine, a small shrub, or even look like a tree sapling at times. I am sure that much sap caused one heck of a reaction!
Awesome video! Also, I love your shirt 😀
Thank you so much 😀
THANK YOU for your video. I subbed.
Thanks for the sub!
Thank you!!!
You are wolcome!
Thanks for the info...
As a Floridian, this is a good one to remember 👍
Glad it was helpful!
This was an awesome video! Thank you for the info. Do you have a video on poison sumac?
Thanks! Nothing on poison sumac yet, but keep an eye out for an upcoming video!
Very good!
Thanks!
THANK YOU! The trick of looking where the stems is GREAT INFORMATION! I can never remember how to tell poison ivy from other plants. Other than leaves of three let it be.
Glad you found the video helpful!
Very interesting and helpful. Where i grew up (Oklahoma) poison ivy was more of a vine climbing up on everything it seems and was everywhere. I retired to western Montana (in part because of a really bad allergy to poison ivy) and the ivy here (what there is of it) is more of a shrub.
Poison ivy is super variable. I have seen it growing as a vine, ground cover and a shrub all within sight of each other.
The Elder is a tree, poison ivy and poison oak are a viney- bushy ground plant that CAN grow up trees. Poison ivy has very shinny leaves and can have a reddish tint to it.
Poison ivy is an incredibly variable plant - it can grow as a small shrub, a vine, and a ground cover. When boxelder first sprouts it looks very much like poison ivy.
Good to know! 👍👍👍 Thank you! 🌿🌿🌿
Glad you found it useful!
I am one of the 10%-25% of people who are not very allergic to urushiol. One day I was out hiking with my buddy, who was badly affected by poison oak. I got a branch caught in the crook of my elbow and forgot to wash it off when I got home. It produced a bit of redness but nothing more. I washed it and in the morning it was unblemished. My buddy suffered for most of a week.
Some people have little to no reaction to the oil produced by poison ivy. That immunity can go away though. I found out the hard way.
I still remember my third grade "leaf colection" homework project. One of my leaves I identified as Box Elder. My graded colection was returned with huge red pen POISON IVY scrawled on my box elder page. That was in 1967.
I can see that happening. There is a box elder near my driveway that is at least 8 feet tall now that has nothing but leaves with 3 leaflets and looks very much like poison ivy.
ive always asked myself "is that poison ivy, or THAT tree?" now i know the trees name. maple family? syrup? awesome info.🍻
Thanks! Glad you found it useful!
Very, very helpful. Just getting over a bout of poison ivy. I was careless and overconfident
very informative
Thank you! Glad you found it useful.
I recently acquired a bad rash from either ivy or oak. Now I know what to look for when I’m out walking or weeding! Thanks!
Glad you found the video helpful! Hopefully your rash heals quickly!
If it is bad, your doctor can give you steroid pills. I felt better in hours of the first dose.
@@Torby4096 Steroids are for the worst of the worst cases. They usually won't prescribe them unless the face or other tender areas are seriously effected. But when they are needed they do work well. I have had to take them one time for ivy when it was on my face and eyelids.
Good info, haven't seen box elder here in NH. T.R. can look like a ground cover, a shrub or a tree-strangling vine. Sneaky devil.
Poison ivy is one of the most variable plants in eastern North America. I have seen it grow so many ways with so many leaflet shapes it is kind of incredible.
Good Man. Thanks SO MUCH. 🙏
You are welcome!
Thank you sir
You are welcome!
I already knew them all apart from each other plus i have a box elder in the backyard I've been keeping the top of it cut but then decidedto let it grow on up
I would like to thank you for this very informative video...we live in an area that has poison ivy and oak. We camp and hike quite often and take the little ones......this may just save one of us from a costly Drs. visit and a shot in the bum. Blessings.
Glad you found the video hepful!
Any feature associated with the box elder is the box elder beetle which appears in clumps of hundreds of bugs often found on the sunny side of a house in the spring. Black beetles with red strips. Harmles but they love my Missouri house.
Boxelder bugs can sometimes appear in huge numbers, and sometimes in places without a lot of boxelder.
Thank you
You're welcome! Glad you found it useful!
Several years ago I made a video on telling Poison Ivy from Virginia Creeper. Since I'm immune to the effects of Poison Ivy, I handled the leaves in the process of shooting the video, and I made it clear I was immune. I got a couple of haters who responded to the video who said my video was misleading, because some people are allergic to Virginia Creeper. But that fact was beyond the scope of my video. I ultimately deleted the stupid thing because they had me so pissed off. Maybe I could have turned off commenting. I don't know. But this was years ago.
I 100% feel your frustration about the comments. You can only put so much in each video. I try hard to keep my videos focused on one single topic.
Though you don't always see it on poison ivy, it's pretty common for PI to have leaf galls, at least down here in Texas and Louisiana. I've never seen galls on a box elder.
Boxelder will get leaf galls in some areas.
Remember also that poison ivy is a vine and will climb up a tree. The roots look like a hairy rope.
Box elder gets the typical winged samaras for the fruit while poison ivy has white berries.
Poison ivy can also grow as a small shrub and a ground cover. It is an incredibly variable plant.
I've grown up around box elder and poison ivy and it never even occurred to me that some people could mistake them. Jack n the pulpits can resemble poison ivy a bit too.
Poison ivy has so many look-a-likes.
Since we do not have the box elder ( may be very rare ) it is safe to assume the plants are toxic to the skin W/O testing them on your skin .( N TEXAS mixed prairies )
lol. I was happier before you mentioned the possibility of variability in Tr's leaflet count. I've never seen more than three. But I can remember finding two four-leaf clovers as a child when my eyes were younger and closer to ground level. Toxicodendron radicans is everywhere in southeast michigan, clinging to any available tree trunk with its creepy aerial roots. As a ground cover it's bad enough, but when it climbs trees, the way it branches out/ reaches out laterally creeps me out.
It is rare for poison ivy to have more than three leaflets, but it can happen. On the vast majority of plants the leaflet count will be three, and even if a plant has a few leaves with 5 leaflets most will only have 3.
“Tasty tree blood” 😂😂😂
I have a complete mental block when it comes to plant identification. I spent a lot of time hiking and backpacking in the upper midwest as a yute. Poison Ivy was a matter of "leaves of three . . ." no problemo. However, when I moved to No. Cal. and was hiking all over the west, the wetern Poison Oak was much more difficult much of the year as it could be seemingly anywhere and everywhere and it's oil is present even when there are no leaves (nice feature, that) and would get on packs and clothing.
Poison ivy can still give you a rash in the winter with no leaves too.
@BackyardEcology that makes sense. I probably never ran into it when I was young and we had real winters and spent less time in the woods in WI.
@@stringlarson1247 Worst case I ever got was in the fall from a leafless vine going up the side of a tree.
yes get to know the difference. biggest thing is the poison ivy is very glossy along with the three leaf clusters
I’ve found the box elder maple to be extremely invasive. It sprouts up everywhere regardless of it being in hedges, grass, even sidewalk cracks. We don’t have much property, so attempting to get rid of it without harming other plants is quite the task and it spreads every where that we don’t have it out. Ha
It can be an aggressive tree - especially in disturbed areas. Boxelder is a pioneer species so it can easily cover a disturbed area as it produces a large amount of seed - like all maples. I have seen red maples do the exact same thing.
The way I remember which is alternating and which is opposing, is that PI is a vine, whereas is Box Elder is a shrub. That may not be technically correct but it works for me.
Poison ivy can also grow as a ground cover and as a small shrub. It is one of the most variable plants in North America.
We have both in Florida😊
just found your channel. this post was great. I am super allergic to poison ivy. gotta get on steroids to clear it. so thanks.
Glad you found the video useful!
Thank you so much for this video - we were freaking out about if our daughter grabbed a handful of poison ivy - hopefully it’s just box elder! 😅🤞🏻
Glad you found it useful! Hopefully it wasn't ivy she grabbed!
Thanks
You are welcome! Thanks for watching!
Tricks? That's kind of hard to answer after all these years living in the woods. After enough time, it like muscle memory; I can just instantly spot it because a person's subconscious picks up so much information. The characteristics of the leaves' resony sheen, the subtle difference in green. The habit of growth. The nature of where it prefers to grow; associated plants, amount of Sunlight, soil type. Spidey sense.
I know what you are talking about. After some experience you just know what plants are without really thinking about it.
❤
Thank you!!! Would love to know how you get the sap from box elder for consumption.
There are a ton of maple tapping videos out there. Just search for "tapping maple trees for syrup".
@@BackyardEcology I suppose the box elder has to get fairly large, like a maple tree, to do that.
@@pattymattes7124 Yes it would need some size to the trunk to be able to tap it.
And dont forget if you are allergic to it and you are burning wood 2ith it on it. You can inhale it. Ended up in hospital for 2 days. It stopped me from breathing. Stuff is wicked
Very good point. The oils can be volatilized in smoke and it is a medical emergency if you get this stuff in your longs and throat.
Very good. Now, make one that shows the difference between poison ivy and fragrant sumac.
It is on the list!
Hey, this is a great video. But when you got to the leaf portion and switched which side the Box Elder photo was on, I got confused. Lol it got three views outta me though Lolol happy to support
Thanks! My newer videos are much more consistent.
@@BackyardEcology oh my word! I just realized how many people have mentioned the photo flip! I’m sorry
I tried the box elder syrup trick when I was a kid. It turned out sweet, but bitter at the same time. Fun though.
Definitely a different flavor than sugar maple syrup.