Poison oak can be a harmful plant if you touch it, as its urushiol oil will cause a nasty rash.
What's the Difference Between Poison Oak and Poison Ivy?
“Leaves of three, let it be!” “Hairy vine, no friend of mine!” Learn how to spot poison oak, tell the difference between poison oak and poison ivy, and treat a poison oak rash.
What is the Difference Between Poison Oak and Poison Ivy?
Poison oak is a relative of poison ivy. There are many similarities:
- Both plants contain the same toxic resin, urushiol in all parts of the plant (toxic to humans but harmless to animals).
- Both plants have three leaflets, white flowers in spring, and can grow as a vine or a shrub.
- Leaflets can range in size from the length of your thumb to the length of your hand.
- Middle leaflet has a notably longer stem than the two side leaflets, though more obvious in poison ivy than poison oak.
- Depending on the season, leaf color can range from green to orange and even a dark purplish-red.
But they are indeed different plants. In North America, there are two species of poison oak: Atlantic (Eastern) and Pacific (Western).
Poison ivy (left) vs. poison oak (right)
How to Identify Poison Oak
- Poison oak is a low-growing, upright shrub. It can grow to be about 3 feet tall, sometimes giving it the appearance of a vine.
- Leaf shape resembles an oak leaf (hence the name, poison oak), but it’s not a member of the oak family.
- Leaflets are duller green than poison ivy and usually more distinctly lobed or toothed.
- Leaflets have hairs on both sides, unlike poison ivy.
- Poison oak tends to grow at elevations between sea level and 5,000 feet.
- While the fruit of poison ivy is the color of pearls, poison oak fruit (called “drupes”) has a tan color.
At the end of the day, just remember: Leaves of three, let it be. In other words, if you see a plant with clusters of three leaves, don’t touch it!
Left: Poison Oak can be red in the fall, and its berries are tan when mature. Right: Poison Oak leaflets showing coloration.
Poison Oak Symptoms
Symptoms of poison oak include itchy red rashes that can resemble burns, swelling, and even blistering.
Symptoms can take 24-48 hours or even up to a week to show up, particularly if its your first exposure!
Poison oak, like poison ivy, contains urushiol. This oily substance is what causes a poison oak rash, and it can be almost impossible to avoid. Upon contact with your body, urushiol immediately forms a chemical bond to the skin and causes an almost unstoppable allergic reaction. Urushiol will stay on clothes, pets, or other materials for months, and its potency lasts. This means that you could even get poison oak without going anywhere near it.
The urushiol resin can cause harsher reactions for those who have been exposed to it before. Sensitivity to urushiol might decrease if you do not come into contact with it until later in life. Only about 15 percent of people are resistant to urushiol, so don’t feel safe around poison oak unless you are absolutely sure you are resistant. You also may become sensitive with repeated exposure, so your resistance might be short-lived.
Danger: Smoke inhalation from burning poison oak can send you straight to the emergency room. Avoid burning this plant (and poison ivy)!
Poison Oak Treatment
Your best chance at avoiding a reaction is to treat poison oak within 10 minutes of contact.
Urushiol is not water-soluble! Use strong soaps (like dish soap) and wash with cold water to keep the oils from spreading. Cleanse the area of contact within the first ten minutes, then rinse off with cold water. As urushiol can remain active for years, you’ll want to wash any clothes, items, or furniture that may have come into contact with the invisible oily residue.
If you don’t catch the exposure immediately, treat the resulting itchy rash and blisters topically with calamine lotion, baking soda pastes, aloe vera, and a number of commercial products. & If you don’t mind mixing breakfast and skin care, one tried-and-true remedy for itchy skin is oatmeal. Since poison oak rash is the same as the poison ivy rash, see more remedies on our poison ivy page. If poison oak is extremely serious, speak to your doctor about a prescription.
Of course, the best remedy is always prevention; study our photos so you can recognize poison oak.
Have you ever had a run-in with poison oak? Tell us about it in the comments below!
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I would like to know if you can burn the poison oak or ivy after its been cut down and has died, if not how do you get rid of it? Now I have never been allergic to the stuff, and I am on up in years, but I was cutting and cleaning out some poison oak/ivy about 2 weeks ago, and I don't know if maybe in my older years I may have gotten may not as resistible to it as I have always been. I have a very small place on my arm that itches like crazy and it just turns red. I put alcohol, etc on it but it stops but comes back itching. I forgot about trying the calamine lotion. I have always cut down the poison oak and just pulled out the vines and threw them away and most likely burned them, I have a lot of the dead vines to dispose of is why I ask if its safe to burn after it dies? I sure hope I haven't become allergic to it, I am the only one in the family that can remove it with out breaking out and been so thankful that I am not allergic to it. Have a great day.
I'm 59. I still remember being an early teen and waking up looking like Frankenstein. I had red irritation from my ears running down my neck. I hadn't been in the woods or near any ivy, and knew I was allergic to them (I'm not hyper sensitive but I'm pretty bad. I used to tease I could catch it from looking at a picture).
Not sure what it was, my mother took me to a doctor.
Seems the neighbor had been burning weeds, and I caught the oils falling from the smoke... Internally.
Later on life, while on the military, I woke up one December day to find my face to be the color of my camouflaged uniform. Never seen anything like it. I was black, blue, and I recall green. I worked in the base hospital and called the ER, and they said come IN.
When they saw me and realized I wasn't kidding they took me right to isolation. A doc checked me out, scratched his head, and out me on quarters (instead of being admitted for sent home for rest for 24 hours).
Each day I had to go back in to get out on quarters, seeing a different doc. Come the 5th day, the doc said "if I didn't know better if swear got had poison x internally, but it's December, and they're dormant"
I looked at him and he could tell by my expression something clicked....
The wife and neighbor had made wreaths out of vines and she hung two in our mobile home, heated by forced air, circulating and exposing me... To the now not dormant....
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I've never had contact with PO, but PI is rampant in the pine woods behind my house and its no joke. My arms are scarred from a couple of contacts with the vile weed. Instead of just soap and water, I've found using rubbing alcohol on first contact then scrubbing with soap and water works very well.
After the blisters form there isn't much you can do other than the treatments mentioned.
Worked at an agency friday . They sent me to cut trees . Woke up Sunday a with an itch on my arm . I scratched as I walked towards the bathroom for my morning routine . When u got back to my room my arm was swollen I was freaking out . Sunday night I have a bunch of small bumps don’t itch at all
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