Not really meaningless

Now that warmer weather is at hand ,well for most of us.  Please remember this old verse:

Red on black, venom it lacks
Red on yellow, kills a fellow.

This has nothing to do with my fear of "slims" just another really cool thing from the past.  

Peace

I remember reading this when I was young, except it was:

Yellow on black, venom lack;
Yellow on red, good as dead.

Not sure which snakes it refers to, though.  In Scotland, we apparently have adders, but I've never seen one -- sadly.

red on black and yellow on black probably refer to kingsnakes, of which there are several species. also milksnakes and scarlets, neither of which is actually banded, more like ‘top spots’

red on yellow definitely refers to coral snakes. yellow on red could too, i guess, especially if ‘on’ means ‘against’ or ‘adjacent’.

basically if black bands keep the yellow and red separate, that’s safe. if the red and yellow are together, that’s trouble.

It seems that it refers to several different snakes depending on where folks live:

KETK news said, The rhyme is meant to help distinguish the venomous Texas coral snake, which has red stripes next to yellow stripes, from similar looking snakes like nonvenomous milk snakes, which have red stripes touching black stripes.

Fire Safe South Carolina said, The most venomous snake in the state is also the rarest. Don't confuse it with the similarly colored non-venomous scarlet kingsnake. Remember this rhyme: "Red touches yellow, kill a fellow; red touches black, friend to Jack."

And here is a different opinion:

Please stop using the rhyme for coral snakes. These pictures are why, as none of them follow the rhyme
- Coral snakes come in many different variatons as all snakes do, and most of them do not follow the rhyme at all, and even the ones that technically could, still don't sometimes

https://www.reddit.com/r/snakes/comments/xjiye9/please_stop_using_the_rhyme_for_coral_snakes/

I think I'll just play it safe and resist the urge to cuddle any snakes I find around the place.

OK, here's another old verse for the warmer months;

Leaves of three, let it be!!!   Also for the fall months if berries are white, flee in fright!!!

Peace

Another one for poison ivy. In particular when it is growing up on trunks.

"Hairy vine, no friend of mine"