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 ...

If you were a Girl Scout or a Boy Scout, you probably heard the adage "leaves of three, let them be" to deter you from getting poison ivy rash. And, while it is true that a poison ivy leaf contains ...

Poison ivy has a compound leaf made up of 3 leaflets which can be 1 to 4 inches long. The middle leaflet is the only one with a long stalk. Courtesy Johnson County Extension Just the mention of the ...

We've all heard the classic saying "leaves of three, let it be," which means don't touch the poison ivy. But just how accurate is that timeless phrase? While this specific mnemonic device exists to ...

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 ...

Ash species have compound leaves with five to eleven leaflets arranged on a long petiole. Contributed photos Ash seed clusters hang loosely on twigs through fall and early winter. The bark of mature ...

Suppose for a minute that you’re walking down the sidewalk and a passerby stops and asks you to identify the tree growing next to you. What feature of that tree are you going to reference to get the ...