FAMILY: VITACEAE
ALTERNATE COMMON NAME:
LEAVES: deciduous, simple, alternate, cordate, three-shouldered to shallowly three-lobed, the lobes acuminate; margins have coarse teeth and are usually ciliate
FLOWER: drooping panicles to 5 inches long, flowering in spring
FRUIT: berries black, glaucous, globose, 0.3-0.5” broad; skin separates from pulp; maturing July-August
TWIGS: pith brown, not continuous through nodes; nodal diaphragm less than 1 mm thick; growing shoot tips enveloped by developing leaves
BARK: exfoliates in shreds; lenticels absent; stems reddish
FORM: high climbing woody vine, sometimes sprawling, sparsely branched; tendrils only present at two consecutive nodes, tendrils branched
HABITAT: riparian forests along large or small rivers and streams; dunes in Great Lakes region
WETLAND DESIGNATION: Facultative Wetland (FACW): Usually occurs in wetlands, but may occur in non-wetlands of the Atlantic and Gulf Coast Plain Region
RANGE: widespread in eastern North America [MAP]
USES: edible fruit
valuable whitetail deer browse; moderate amount of song birds consume the fruit
Brief Recognition Features:
- high climbing woody vine, sparsely branched; tendrils branched
- brown pith, interrupted at nodes, nodal diaphragms less than 1 mm thick
- found along riverbanks or low-lying rich forests
- leaves usually shallowly three-lobed, with acuminate tips, and coarsely dentate margins
- small (<0.5”) black, glaucous berries
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