Plant Guide

Poison ivy grows across nearly every corner of North America, shifting shape from a ground-hugging vine to a roadside shrub to a thick-furred tree climber depending on where it takes root. Learn to read its signature leaf pattern and you will walk confidently through the woods for the rest of your life.

Poison oak grows across much of the American West and along the Atlantic coast, and learning to spot it is one of the most useful trail skills a family can build. Its oak-shaped leaflets in clusters of three change from glossy green to brilliant red and orange with the seasons, making it beautiful and worth knowing well. A calm, curious eye is your best protection.

Poison sumac is one of North America's most irritating plants, but most families will never meet it face to face. It grows deep in swamps and bogs, not along trail edges, and it looks nothing like the harmless staghorn sumac that lines roadsides across the country.

Stinging nettle grows along trails, creek banks, and forest edges across most of the United States, and it has a way of introducing itself before you see it. Learn to read its distinctive leaves and fine bristled stems, and this plant goes from a surprise sting to one of the most interesting finds on any family hike.

Virginia creeper is the five-leaflet vine that trips up hikers who know just enough about poison ivy to guess wrong. Learn the simple count that tells them apart, and you will spend less time worrying and more time exploring.