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[clhw AT InfoAve.Net (clhw)]

Don -- where you are, there is PLENTY of poison ivy but not a lot of poison 
oak.

The old adage:
Leave of 3, let it be
is a sort of id for poison ivy.

It is a vine which grows up pine and oak trees, looking like a thick rope
with lots of little fringy roots reaching out to grab into the bark.  You
can get the juice which you react to from any of those little roots or the
vine as well as the leaf. The leaves are in groups of 3 and are pointed
with jagged edges. Some of the very young leaves will not have developed
their jagged edge but in a couple of days they will.

It can be killed by a generous application of 20 Mule Team Borax on the
leaves and the ground around where it comes up. Unfortunately, this is not
an immediate kill and will need to be re-applied after rains. And the
Asheville area frequently has an afternoon shower every day. If you manage
to keep the borax on long enough, it will kill the plant to the root so it
doesn't come back. And it will not destroy other vegetation with it unless
you dust it also.

In Black Mountain, there is a Mountain Outfitters (or some such name) shop
which has all sorts of plant id books with excellent illustrations. I'm
sure there are more hiking stores like it in Asheville. If you venture a
short way up the road to the Southern Highlands Craft Guild Folk Art Center
(Milepost 382 on the Blue Ridge Parkway) store, they have a library with
great books.
www.southernhighlandguild.org
828 298 7928

Things here are in full bloom so they should be in your area in another
week or two.
Lynn

>How do you identify Poison Ivy?  As a kid in the midwest I was never
>affected by it but now that I am severely affected by Poison Oak I want to
>be on the look out.
>
>Also does anyone have a recommendation for a good tree and plant
>identification book for the south and midwest?  Again it was 41 years ago
>that I left the midwest and I have found that much of what I knew has
>slipped away.
>
>I am currently in Asheville, NC.  I went to the Arboretum yesterday but
>little in leafed out or in bloom.
>
>Don Bowen                          Awl Knotted Up Woodworking
>http://www.braingarage.com
>http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?latlongtype=decimal&latitude=35.588587
>&longitude=-82.629175
>http://www.braingarage.com/Dons/Travels/journal/Journal.html