The old saying goes “Leaves of Three, Let Them Be”. Which is ok advice.
Because poison ivy and poison oak DO have leaves of three.
But so do hundreds of other plants and you wouldn’t want to go nuts spraying and pulling out friendly plants.
Here is a nice green bean vine growing near a restaurant that grows some of its own veggies.
And of course, bean plants have perfect “Leaves of Three.” And these leaves have side leaves with fat bottoms, just like poison ivy. But the vein pattern and the way the leaf surface is so deeply curled into the veins… poison ivy doesn’t look that way.
Check out the photo below of actual poison ivy to compare.
The other thing about this bean plant is that is is growing next to some big wooden parking lot rails which is where poison ivy grows so often… but in this case it was guarding the public from green beans!
