(I have never reacted to contact with this plant.)
Anyone susceptible to this plant’s rash, often accompanied by an incredible itch, should learn how to recognize both varieties and be on the lookout for them when outside. Poison ivy is among the worst of all weeds, sneaking into gardens, yards and woodlots. Generally, the two can be distinguished by the three-divided leaves of the poison ivy, the leaves of the Virginia creeper usually being five-divided.” Of poison ivy, Dana wrote, “This much-dreaded plant is often confused with the beautiful Virginia creeper, occasionally to the ruthless destruction of the latter. My edition, printed in 1904, is beautifully illustrated with drawings and colored prints, with informational text often embellished as early nature authors often did. With illustrations by Marion Satterlee and (in first edition) Elsie Louise Shaw. William Starr Dana (Frances Theodora Parsons) first published “How to Know the Wild Flowers” in 1893. I am not aware of any Rhus radicans variety with five leaves, but there are various plants with that number of leaves emerging from stems that might fill the bill. Many plants have five leaves or leaflets, which does not mean they are poison ivy, just as every three-leaved plant you encounter is poison ivy. I do not know of any “poison” or reaction from touching this plant. I think that the plant/vine you are seeing in our local State Forest in Pittsfield, and Central and Northern Berkshire, is Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia), a five-leaf ivy common along roadsides, hedgerows, open woods and the borders of streams. (According to the University of Massachusetts, poison ivy can grow in either wet or dry soil, shade or direct sunlight.) The climbing type is common only in southernmost towns in the Berkshires, and this climber, often with thick woody stems and aerial roots that cling to trees, is common along roadsides, dry fields, swamps and along paths in woods. Both have “three leaves,” the climbing variety (Rhus radicans) and the low-to-the-ground variety (Rhus radicans var. A We have two varieties of poison ivy in Berkshire County.