Parthenocissus vitacea
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| iThicket Creeper | ||||||||||||||
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| Parthenocissus vitacea (Knerr) Hitchc. |
Thicket Creeper (Parthenocissus vitacea, syn. P. inserta; also known as False Virginia Creeper, Woodbine, or Grape Woodbine) is a woody vine native to North America, in southeastern Canada (west to southern Manitoba) and a large area of the United States, from Maine west to Montana and south to New Jersey and Missouri in the east, and Texas to Arizona in the west (thus missing from most of the southeast, and the west coast).
It is a prolific climber, reaching heights of 20-30 m in the wild, using small branched tendrils with twining tips. The leaves are palmately compound, comprised of five leaflets, and range from 3-20 cm across. The leaflets have a toothed margin.
The flowers are small and greenish, produced in clusters in late spring, and mature in late summer or early fall into small hard purplish-black berries 5-7 mm diameter. These berries contain oxalic acid, which is poisonous to humans and other mammals, and may be fatal if eaten. However, accidental poisoning is uncommon, likely because of the bad taste of the berries. Despite being poisonous to mammals, they provide an important winter food source for birds.
It is very closely related to Virginia Creeper (P. quinquefolia), differing only in its means of climbing, the tendrils twining around plant stems, not having the sticky pads found on the tendrils of Virginia Creeper. One consequence of this is that (unlike Virginia Creeper) it cannot climb smooth walls, only through shrubs and trees. The leaf shape, and also the brilliant fall colors, are indistinguishable from Virginia Creeper.
