A beautiful native vine

DSCN2161

This is a beautiful native vine whose berries are highly attractive to wildlife. It’s lovely throughout the growing season; in autumn, it displays a foliar flag to let the birds know that its berries are ripe. More birds eat its berries than those of almost any other plant. You know that I’m describing poison ivy (Toxicodendron radicans), right?

Check out this post on the Beautiful Wildlife Garden website for more information about this very important native plant. For one thing, only humans are allergic to it. And among humans, by no means all are allergic. I have seem estimates ranging from 30 to 50 percent of people are quite immune. So, if you have a large property, perhaps containing some land where people never go, you might consider not eradicating the poison ivy there. You’d be doing the wildlife a favor.

One thought on “A beautiful native vine

Leave a comment