First written about in North America by Captain John Smith in the Jamestown colony, Poison Ivy, Toxicodendron radicans, is a misunderstood and often maligned plant. It is also one of the most common plants at Gateway. It provides cover and food for a wide variety of animals, and in many places its roots stabilize critical sand dunes. It is important that visitors be familiar with this plant’s three leaves, which can vary from bright green to reddish in spring and fall, with white berries in summer and fall. Poison Ivy at Gateway can grow as a low, trailside plant, as an aggressive tree-climbing vine, as a shrub, and even as a small tree. All parts of the plant contain the oil urushiol, which causes a skin rash in about half of the U.S. population.