Fun Facts About Grassy Waters Preserve: Poison Ivy

From the City of West Palm Beach:

August 13, 2020

Poison Ivy is found at Grassy Waters Preserve of West Palm Beach and throughout the United States. You might be surprised to know that it shares the same botanical family as the cashew and mango. It is devilishly difficult to eradicate but easy to identify, if you know what to look for. Poison Ivy grows in clusters of three leaves on vines that creep along the ground and frequently grow up the trunks of pine and cypress trees into the canopy. The vine, the roots, the leaves, the flowers, and the berries all contain a compound called urushiol, which causes the notorious rash. Apart from the pollen grains, every part of the plant is toxic. A good rule of thumb is to follow the forest mantra, “Leaves of three, let them be.”

A day of gardening or a walk in the woods are activities that many of us enjoy without incident. For the uninitiated, it may begin with a small area of red itchy bumps that appear on your skin. As the rash progresses, you might experience persistent itching, redness, swelling, and blistering. Like so many outdoor enthusiasts you would become a victim of poison Ivy. The good news is that poison ivy cannot be spread from person to person, and it is rarely life-threatening.

Despite being a nuisance, Poison Ivy does play an important part in Grassy Waters Preserve’s ecosystem. The flowers are visited by pollinating insects, and the ripe white fruit is an important food source for mammals, reptiles, birds, and amphibians. Small animals such as frogs and mice use the vine for shelter or as a highway to climb trees. Recent field experiments have shown that Poison Ivy is tolerant of being inundated by wastewater and could potentially be used to treat sewage.

Poison Ivy is now being used to study climate change. Scientists reveal that increases in CO2 are like steroids for Poison Ivy enabling them to grow five times faster than the surrounding trees and their leaves to grow three times larger than normal, thus increasing the potency of the rash-causing oil. Scientists believe Poison Ivy and invasive plants benefit from increased levels of CO2.

Grassy Waters Preserve of West Palm Beach is located at 8264 Northlake Blvd. in the City of West Palm Beach. Grassy Waters serves as the drinking water supply source for West Palm Beach, which provides water to the Town of Palm Beach and the Town of South Palm Beach. For more information on Grassy Waters Preserve public programs available under the COVID-19 safety guidelines, call (561) 804-4895 (TTY: 800-955-8771) or visit: https://www.wpb.org/government/public-utilities/grassy-waters-preserve/public-program-calendar .

This press release was produced by the City of West Palm Beach. The views expressed are the author's own.