ladies' ear-drops
Brunnichia ovata (Walter) Shinners
click thumbnail to enlarge
Form
ladies'-eardrops form ladies'-eardrops form
Habitat
Leaves
ladies'-eardrops leaves ladies'-eardrops leaf
Twigs
ladies'-eardrops twig ladies'-eardrops node ladies'-eardrops node
Bark
Flowers
ladies'-eardrops flowers ladies'-eardrops flowers ladies'-eardrops flowers
Fruit
ladies'-eardrops fruit ladies'-eardrops fruit ladies'-eardrops fruit ladies'-eardrops fruit
  • FAMILY: POLYGONACEAE
  • ALTERNATE COMMON NAME: ladies’ ear-drop vine; American buckwheat vine
  • LEAVES: alternate, simple, deciduous; blades ovate, 2 to 5 inches long, bases truncate to slightly cordate, apex acute to acuminate;, petioles short ; margins entire; upper surface glabrous, lower usually sparsely pubescent
  • FLOWER: greenish, 2 to 5” axillary and terminal paniculate racemes; flowering June to July
  • FRUIT:  fruiting raceme with achenes enclosed in a hypanthium; also called "ear-drops" (ear-drops are dangling earrings, hence, the common name)
  • STEMS: distal portions of shoots herbaceous, proximal portions woody; summits of internodes flaring to one side at petiole bases
  • BARK: greenish to reddish with grayish stripes and pustulate lenticels; finely grooved
  • FORM: semi-woody vine, grooved stem; climbs by axillary and terminal tendrils, short lateral branches
  • HABITAT: river banks and swamps; most common vine of bottomland hardwoods; old fields and clearings in floodplains
  • WETLAND DESIGNATION: Facultative Wetland (FACW): Usually occurs in wetlands, but may occur in non-wetlands of the Atlantic and Gulf Coast Plain Region
  • RANGE: southeast US coastal plains; Texas to Alabama, northward to southern Illinois [MAP]
  • WILDLIFE: fruit eaten by squirrels and deer; moderateto high-value whitetail deer browse
    • Best Recognition Features:
    1. goose-neck petioles, ovate leaf blade with truncate to cordate base
    2. foliage yellowish-green
    3. vine climbing by tendrils
    4. ear-drop fruit in the fall
    LSU School of Renewable Natural Resources

    School of Renewable Natural Reources    		 Louisiana Plant Identification and Interactive Virtual Tours
    Dr. Chris S. Reid, Project Director | creid4@lsu.edu
    LSU School of Renewable Natural Resources
    LSU AgCenter, Baton Rouge, LA
    © 2003-2020

    website problems or broken links: mbowen@agcenter.lsu.edu
    page revised: 15-Jan-2020 4:11 PM  msb    		 LSU AgCenter

    LSU AgCenter
    Provide Website Feedback   |  Accessibility Statement