You can look but you’d better not touch – poison ivy! Before venturing into the beautiful outdoors this summer, it might be a good idea to familiarize your kids with some poisonous leaves they might come into contact with. Even if they already know about these leaves, a refresher course couldn’t hurt. (It’s been a long winter!)The Internet is an ideal research tool to find pictures and information about poison ivy, poison-oak and poison sumac.

I’ve gathered together a few useful websites to help get you on your way.

Poison Ivy Online:

Let’s start off by getting a good look at some Pictures of Poison Ivy. This web page is perfect for anyone who is itching to know what poison ivy leaves look like. The page features a photo gallery of 30 useful images including: poison ivy growing on a wall, young leaflets, poison ivy flower buds, poison ivy berries, and poison ivy turning colors in the autumn. Now that we can identify poison ivy, let’s get some helpful information about it. Dr. Charles Booras has written an article entitled Poison Ivy Dermatitis, which tells us what puts the poison in poison ivy (it’s an oil called urushiol). Another great resource is an online article titled Poison Ivy, which contains advice on how to prevent and treat the poison ivy rash.

Poison-Oak Online

Alright, you’ve found out about poison ivy – but you’re not out of the woods yet! Poison-oak leaves are common in North America and they also contain the rash-causing urushiol oil.

Poison Oak Photos is the first website we’ll check out, since prevention is always the best medicine. This site offers a photo gallery which has pictures of a poison-oak bush and close ups of poison-oak leaves. Another website worth visiting is called How to Get Rid of Poison Oak Plants. It is a practical article that lists methods of identifying poison oak and effectively killing it.

Poison Sumac Online:

Poison Sumac is a small tree or shrub that goes in areas of North America with wet soil, such as bogs and swamps. Although poison sumac isn’t very common, every part of this plant contains urushiol, and lots of it – so let’s learn to spot poison sumac. Poison Sumac Pictures is a website that contains a photo gallery of 15 quality images to help you identify this shrub. Pictures include close ups of the plant’s parts, including poison sumac compound leaves, spring berries, stems, bark, and autumn foliage. The Poison Sumac Page has a little more information about this plant.