Poison Ivy is a fictional character, one of the many villains faced by Batman in the DC Comics series.

Dr. Pamela Lillian Isley, a botanist from Seattle, was once a very intelligent scientist who knew just about everything about plants. That is, until a man named Jason Woodrue (Floronic Man ) conducted some experiments upon her. The experiments placed toxins in her blood stream that make her touch deadly and allow her to be immune to all poisons, viruses, bacteria, and fungi. Thus, she became Poison Ivy.

Poison Ivy is a very attractive red-headed woman who is known to be able to seduce men and women alike with useful plant toxins. She specialized in hybrids and can create the most potently powerful toxins in Gotham.

She has been known to carry a cross-bow and a vine whip which she also has used as a lasso. At times, the vine has had thorns on it. She also occasionally uses hand thrown and blowpipe launched poisoned darts.

She also has been friends with Harley Quinn, the current girlfriend of The Joker.

The character of Poison Ivy was created by Robert Kanigher . In her first appearances in the 1960s, no origin was developed; she was merely a temptress apparently based on Bettie Page, having the same haircut and a similar Southern drawl. Although her splash cover in Batman 181 was well drawn by Carmine Infantino , she was drawn rather poorly in that magazine and in the one which concluded the story. Failing to catch on as a character, she was not heard of until the rise of feminism brought the need for a greater number of more independent female villains in the series. Then her story was concocted.

At her first appearance, her costume was a one-piece but strapless green bathing suit, cut what now seems modestly at the hips, which was covered with leaves. Leaves hanging from vines formed her bracelets at the wrist and a necklace. Her crown was similar, with the leaves standing straight up. Her shoes were green high heels with three leaves at the rim of the heel. She also wore yellow-green nylon stockings with the seam on the outside and with leaves painted on to make the seam look like a vine. These particulars changed somewhat when she re-appeared.

In Batman: The Animated Series and spin-offs, Poison Ivy was voice-acted by Diane Pershing . Uma Thurman played Poison Ivy in the film Batman and Robin.