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Don't forget about poison ivy and poison oak in your yard. Here's how to spot it.

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Set to garden or go hiking in Delaware? Here's how to identify poison ivy, oak, sumac

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How to Identify and Treat a Poison Ivy or Poison Oak Rash

Just thinking about poison ivy can make you itch. Blistering rashes on your arms and ankles, oozing bumps between your fingers and eyelid-swelling exposures are all-too-familiar summer hazards. Poison ivy lurks for kids, campers, hikers, gardeners and anyone else who ventures too close. Identifying and avoiding poison ivy — and its cousins, poison oak and poison sumac — is ideal.

If you come into contact with these toxic plants, here’s what you need to know.

[READ: What Causes Hives?]

What Does Poison Ivy Look Like?

Three leaves is the consistent clue to poison ivy, says Diane Brown, an educator in consumer horticulture and commercial fruit with the Michigan State University Extension program. Otherwise, she says, poison ivy can be a bit of a “chameleon.”

Poison ivy leaves don’t all look the same. Some poison ivy leaves have “toothed” or wavy edges while others have smooth edges. Leaflets might be dull or shiny; hairy or hairless. Leaves start out green as they grow and turn reddish purple in fall. During the spring, poison ivy flowers and produces white berries that last into the winter.

Most people are allergic to urushiol, the oily resin in poison ivy, oak and sumac…