Brant County man makes history with ‘massive and fascinating’ discovery

A Brant County man has become the holder of a Guinness World Record after making an unusual discovery.

Robert Fedrock of Paris made history when Guinness certified the poison ivy plant he found on his property a few years ago as the world’s tallest.

The plant measures 20.75 meters or 68 feet much taller than it’s usual height of between one to four feet in height or 30 to 122 cm.

“I was out building a trail in the woods and, just by coincidence, this trail just happened to go a few feet away from this poison ivy plant,” Fedrock said. “It just looked like this great big hairy vine growing up the tree.

“The vine is about six inches in diameter and I just thought it was massive and fascinating.”

The brown vine clings to a white ash tree and stretches upwards. The leaves of the plant can be seen at about 10 feet above the ground.

When Fedrock discovered it, the plant was well-camouflaged by a patch of common buckthorn which has since been removed.

A graduate of Paris District High School, Fedrock spends a lot of time outdoors enjoying nature and shared his discovery with friends.

One friend suggested submitting the plant to Guinness.

Fedrock thought it would be interesting to a lot of people and looked into making a submission. He subsequently learned that there wasn’t a specific category for the tallest poison ivy plant.

“That’s one of the reasons why I decided to submit it,” Fedrock said. “I think it’s really kind of cool and given how much press attention there has been, a lot of other people think it’s pretty cool too.

“I just thought there should be a record for the tallest poison ivy plant.”

As part of his submission, Fedrock had to have it confirmed as poison ivy by a botanist.

Once Guinness announced that the world’s tallest poison ivy plant was in Paris, ON, Fedrock found himself the subject of a lot of media attention.

“It was unexpected,” Fedrock said. “I’m not surprised that you guys (The Expositor) picked it up because it’s a local story.

“When I submitted it to Guinness I thought it would be of local interest and I thought it would be interesting to some people.”

But Fedrock didn’t think it would garner nearly as much media attention as it as. He has done numerous interviews about his discovery in recent weeks.

A lot of people have asked Fedrock why he doesn’t cut it down.

“A lot of people say it should be cut down or eradicated and I think that’s a very sad way of looking at the world,” Fedrock said.

“If it’s in your backyard that’s one thing. But when it’s out in the woods it’s part of the habitat, it’s not hurting anybody and it’s a majestic plant.”

[email protected]

twitter.com/EXPVBall