FAMILY: ANACARDIACEAE
ALTERNATE COMMON NAME:
LEAVES: alternate, trifoliate compound, deciduous; glabrous to shiny above, pubescent veins below; leaflet margins coarsely serrate, tips acuminate; red fall color
FLOWER: inconspicuous axillary panicles
FRUIT: axillary clusters of yellowish-to-white dry drupes
TWIGS: naked, brown, pubescent buds
BARK: lenticels usually conspicuous
FORM: woody vine climbing with aerial roots which are not restricted to nodes; can form stands consisting of creeping or erect stems on forest floors where climbing structure is lacking
HABITAT: mainly of mesic forests, fence-rows, very frequent on landscape
WETLAND DESIGNATION: Facultative (FAC): Occurs in wetlands or non-wetlands of the Atlantic and Gulf Coast Plain Region
RANGE: eastern North America [MAP]
WILDLIFE: moderate to high-value whitetail deer browse; deer also consume fruit; fruit eaten by many song birds and squirrels
Best Recognition Features:
- large climbing woody vine with many aerial root
- alternate trifoliate compound leaves
- fruit a small whitish drupe, panicle inflorescence
Related species:
poison oak (Toxicodendron pubescens): erect plant, densely pubescent leaves, three oak-like leaflets, found on dry sites and old fields
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