Comments on: Is it? Could it be . . . Poison Ivy?

By: Mary Lou

Mary Lou — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 23:19:07 +0000

WHen I saw It I immediately said Blackberries! We have what we call Railroad Track Blackberries that grow along the ground, looks just like your vine, and looks like a small blackberry. Not the round berries that you have. and they take a BUNCH to make jam with but they are soooooooo good!

By: Cynthia

Cynthia — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 14:17:59 +0000

I’m so glad to be getting notification of new posts again. I now remember what I’ve been missing: your insatiable appetite for knowledge and your apt ability to share it. I always steer clear of ivy-like plants for fear of a recurrence of an incredibly horrible experience with poison ivy when I was 9 years old. I would do better to just educate myself!

By: Jenn

Jenn — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 12:04:52 +0000

Hah! Since we battle the ivy on a regular schedule, I guess I assume everybody gets regular robin dropped seedlings.

Good for you, to not have any ‘volunteers.’

Much as I like robins, I do wish they didn’t like the ivy berries so…

By: Laurie

Laurie — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 03:57:00 +0000

Dewberries are edible; they grew all over the back field at my parent’s house, and my brothers and I would often eat them. That said, the berries are very small, the plants are not heavy producers, you have to crawl around on the ground to find them, and they really don’t taste better than other, easier to harvest berries. Leave them for the birds. Anything that likes blackberries will like dewberries.

By: Carol

Carol — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 02:10:55 +0000

I agree, since it’s not poison ivy, leave it. Food for the birds.

That was some good plant detective work on your part to figure out what the plant was. It is hard to find a plant online when you only have a picture. Where’s a “dichotomous key” when you need it?

By: Kathy Purdy

Kathy Purdy — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 23:51:12 +0000

Jenn–I’m not sure what you mean about steeper curve. If there’s any poison ivy on our land, I haven’t seen it. It’s all been this dewberry vine.

Kim–the various websites and books I consulted were kind of wishy-washy about human consumption. They are definitely NOT poisonous, but the flavor is described ranging from tasty to insipid. I presume wildlife of all kinds like to eat the berries, but I didn’t see a list anywhere.

There’s no way I’d pull out two acres of plants, and why would I want to? It’s a native plant, and it’s NOT poison ivy.

By: Kim

Kim — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 16:13:12 +0000

Are the dewberries edible, or do they make good bird food? Are you going to leave them where they are, or still pull the plants out?

By: Jenn

Jenn — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 16:04:35 +0000

Convincing imposter!

Bristles are a good field sign. Ivy does that roots-all-over-the-stems thing, but doesn’t have bristles. I’d've been fooled by this guy though.

Now, however, you have a steeper curve on finding the ivy before it gets out of hand.

Ah, nature.