FRAGRANT SUMAC (ABOVE) --SAFE TO TOUCH, CRUNCH AND SNIFF



POISON SUMAC (ABOVE): FOUND IN WETLAND AREAS.  NEVER TOUCH!!



FRAGRANT SUMAC (ABOVE BEHIND ROCK) IS SHRUB LIKE: SAFE TO TOUCH



STAGHORN OR RED SUMAC (ABOVE) IS SAFE TO TOUCH AND COMMON IN DRY AREAS

POISON IVY (ABOVE) IS COMMON EVERYWHERE AND HIGHLY POTENT EVEN IN FALL

My best advice: If you do not know your leaves and shurbs and vines well, avoid direct contact with the color red in your late autumn hike.It's not just red maples and the sassafras that takes on beautiful hues of red in the waning days of October. So does poison ivy and poison sumac and both can create an itching oozing rash of blistery pain that will make you wish you left all colorful leaves alone.  A blog is not the place to learn the differences, but from top to bottom in this sequence of 'Poison or Not' - and photo sequel to my Scripter Trail hiking column in the  October  24 Oakland Press -  you will find Fragrant Sumac on top, followed by Poison Sumac, another view of Fragrant Sumac behind the trailside boulder, Staghorn Sumac and then Poison Ivy.  (Only the fragrant sumac was photographed on Oxford Village's Scripter Trail but all are found in Oakland County. If you crush a leaf of fragrant sumac you will know why it was so named.)  Poison Sumac loves "wet feet" and this highly potent plant is usually in a wetland and the leaves are at just the right  height for face-slapping contact.  The Staghorn Sumac (also known as red sumac) with the tightly packed fuzzy red seed clusters likes dry sunny areas and is harmless. Poison ivy is everywhere, sometimes as a tree-hugging vine, and sometimes in a bushy form. In autumn and winter you may notice its whitish-yellow berries.  Enjoy your hikes in your local, Huron-Clinton (http://www.metroparks.com/) or Oakland County Parks (http://www.destinationoakland.com/)  but watch where you wander and what you touch as you explore nature's colorful ways. And a caution: Even in the dead of winter if you bruise or break a vine of poison sumac or poison ivy and come in contact with the oils you can end up in a dermatological nightmare!