What if the holiday plant everyone whispers about is more myth than menace? The poinsettia’s scarlet bracts scream danger to ...

Leaves of three, let it be. That’s the common expression to avoid run-ins with poison ivy and poison oak — common toxic-to-the-touch plants found in North Carolina’s Triangle area and beyond. Virginia ...

You've been waiting all year for autumn's brilliant colors to arrive and you're out on a walk just itching to pick up a beautiful red leaf. But how do you know it won't leave you scratching? Poison ...

Virginia creeper is a nontoxic native Virginia vine that is often mistaken for poison ivy. Poison ivy has three leaves and no briars.

A few years ago I was leading a group of Merrimack College ecology students on a nature walk, when one of them pointed to a vine with five leaflets per leaf, and asked if it was poison ivy. “No,” I ...

I once thought I was among the 20% of humans who experience no ill effects from poison ivy. But a visit to southern Illinois years ago proved me wrong. Itchy skin with blisters plagued me for weeks.

Poison ivy and Virginia creeper vines climb trees, poles and other objects along woodland edges, hedgerows and roadsides to reach sunlight. Though usually overlooked as having colored leaves in autumn ...

Maybe you like to walk trails and visit natural areas. I do, too. However, it behooves us to consider the potential dangers of plants that can cause a nasty itch. Here are some of the main ones to ...