CautionDo not eat
Virginia creeper
Parthenocissus quinquefolia
Five leaflets from one point. Harmless lookalike of poison ivy.
- Marks
- Five leaflets; disc-tipped tendrils; blue berries
- Size
- Climbing vine
- Habitat
- Same woods and fences as poison ivy — they often grow together.
- Season
- April–November; brilliant red fall color.
- Frequency
- abundant
A climbing vine with palmately compound leaves of five (sometimes three on new shoots) toothed leaflets. Tendrils end in sticky discs. Fruit is a dark blue berry on red stems, toxic if eaten in quantity.
If this is the one
Berries upset stomachs. The plant does not cause the ivy rash.
Lookalikes
Poison ivy
Toxicodendron radicans
Three leaflets, urushiol oil. The plant that hospitalizes more Hoosiers than any snake.
IrritantDo not eat