Identity Crisis

We're in the Ivy League

Poison Ivy

Last week I went for a nice walk with members of the Princeton Newcomers Club. Since I was the newest of the newcomers, they set about teaching me how to spot Poison Ivy. One woman whipped out her Droid and Googled images showing its various colors and shapes. As we walked along the pretty tree-covered Stony Brook trail, I pointed out all the 3-leaved plants I thought were poison ivy. Half of what I pointed to were wild berries and brambles. (It's better to err on the side of caution in these matters.)

Can you tell the Poison Ivy from
the Blackberry Leaves?

The next day, while I was scrounging for ripe blackberries that the deer might have left me, I realized there was poison ivy mixed with the berries. Fortunately, Linda, the previous owner left behind a cleanser that gets the poison off before it can cause harm. And I used it immediately. (The instructions on the bottle say to clean your hands thoroughly before going to the bathroom.)

Those berries weren't tasty enough to risk a scratchy rash on my hands that I could spread all over the place. So I decided to stick with the raspberries and wild blueberries from then on.

Berry Surprised

Wineberries

It turns out there is yet another kind of berry growing among the Brambles in our yard: Wineberries. They're a sparkly crimson color and pop out of a kind of prickly "shell" when they're ripe. They have a unique berry flavor and leave a kind of sticky feeling in my mouth. Now I know why I have seen so many deer over in the vicinity of those brambles. Wineberry stalks are covered with nasty thorns and I'm not sure they're worth the pain. Why can't the deer content themselves with Wineberries and the blackberries and leave the flowers and other berries alone?