In part, this is because animal-health problems can result from exposure to excessive quantities of herbicides used to control weeds. Problems are most likely to result when herbicides or their containers are used improperly. Although not poisonous, bristles on the panicles stick to skin and have caused abscesses. Stems and leaves are covered with numerous stinging hairs, the sting resembling that of a bee. Plants grow up to six feet in height, with slender, rigid stems branching mostly at the top.
Flowers are green to white and arranged on branched spikes arising from leaf axils.
The plant is found throughout Ohio, especially along roadsides, fencerows, ditchbanks, shady or moist wood edges. Contact with the plant can cause inflammation and welts may form. Poison ivy is a creeping perennial vine or bush that reproduces by seed and vegetatively by roots. Once it begins to climb, adventitious roots appear from the stem that hold it in place, giving the stem a fuzzy appearance. The leaves of poison ivy are alternate, with three leaflets, and often shiny with a reddish hue.