Misunderstood Virginia Creeper

Growing on the brick wall outside my back door is one of my favorite native vines, Virginia Creeper, Parthenocissus quinquefolia.  It is a volunteer that I have allowed to grow freely, except for an occasional pruning to keep it from blocking the gutters.  The thick foliage is a haven for a multitude of insects, frogs and birds.

The leaves turn a bright red color in the fall and make an impressive display.  Few plants can rival the brilliant red displayed by a healthy Virginia Creeper leaf.

The plant does have one problem.  Too many people are under the mistaken impression that Virginia Creeper is actually a mutant form of Poison Ivy or more commonly, they think it is Poison Oak.  It bothers me to see people cut and spray a plant because of a misidentification.  A Virginia Creeper leaf is composed of five leaflets, although by accident or design that number may be reduced.  Poison Ivy and Poison Oak both have three leaflets.  Poison Oak is also a western species, so people in the eastern U.S. don’t have to worry about it.

Even if you were to pull a couple of leaflets off of the Virginia Creeper leaf, the difference between it and the Poison Ivy, shown on the left, is quite distinct.  There are many differences in the shape and design of the leaflets, but the most easily recognized feature is the long stem at the base of the center leaflet of the Poison Ivy.  The bases of the Virginia Creeper leaflets are very short and practically identical in length.

Virginia Creeper is a member of the Grape Family and the blue fruits look much like wild grapes.  Birds are quick to clean up these fruits and drop the seeds over a wide area.

This particular vine was growing in the center of a drainage way, so received some additional moisture through the year.  Many of the Virginia Creeper vines in upland areas failed to produce any fruit because of the ongoing drought conditions.  If people would give this vine a chance, I think they would grow to like it.

Virginia Creeper

I found a nice specimen of Virginia Creeper sharing space with one of the big cedars. Virginia Creepers are vining plants that need some type of structure upon which to grow. The cedar provided a perfect support.

One branch of the Virginia Creeper chose an interesting and ultimately deadly path up the cedar. It entered the base of one of the fissures in the trunk and exited about a foot farther up. The combination of an expanding vine diameter and a narrowing of the fissure as the cedar grew caused the vine to get pinched to the point of expiration.

The death of that part of the vine caused several side branches to develop. These have stayed to the outside of the trunk, so they should be able to develop normally without the threat of being choked.

Virginia Creepers cling to the tree trunk by using tendrils that terminate in a flattened disc. Each disc serves as an anchor that allows the vine to easily ascend vertical structures.

The terminated branch shares a root system with a much larger branch. This portion is large enough to support some Tarzan like activities, but I would never cut the vine just to make a good swing.

As the size of the vine increases, the tendrils deteriorate and lose their hold. This leaves the vine hanging free from the tree branches.

The upper reaches of the vine still have a tight grip on the tree. Not only are the younger tendrils still holding strong, but the vine has woven itself through several tree branches that provide additional support. I expect the tree and vine to be growing together for a long time to come.

What's That?

Plants with big, showy flowers are fairly easy to identify, at least when they display their flower. Most of the time, plants seem to be at some stage in their development that makes it difficult to come up with an accurate identification. In the past, I would find an unknown plant such as this seedling and put all of my effort into fully examining every detail in an attempt to learn its identify. Now I use a different technique.

It’s unusual for a plant to be the only one of its kind in the area. With a little searching it’s quite likely that another will be found. Here’s a second individual that makes it clear that there are a pair of seed leaves. So now I know it’s a dicot.

Seeds and their resulting seedlings develop at different rates. Finding a plant that is developing its first true leaf shows that the plant has divided leaves. Now the field is beginning to narrow.

Three parted leaves? That’s not Poison Ivy or any other three parted leaf that I’m familiar with. It’s common for early or undeveloped leaves to lack the full range of characteristics associated with mature leaves, so it’s possible that there’s more to be seen. When you’re unsure, you should keep on looking.

This is beginning to look like something. A five parted leaf. Now the shape is matching a pattern I’m familiar with.

They are young Virginia Creepers. I see the mature vines every day, trying to claim one side of my house. This method of scouting around for other specimens doesn’t work every time, but it’s definitely worth a try when confronted by an unknown plant. There are times when there is indeed only a single specimen of a plant on the site and times when every plant in the population is at the exact same stage of development. Sometimes you have to walk away from the mystery plant with just the knowledge that you’ll be back another time to uncover its secret identity.

Looking around, it’s clear that Virginia Creeper is a common ground cover plant here, so you would expect to find a few of its seedlings. I have to admit that I did recognize the seedlings as soon as I saw them. Virginia Creeper is a species that I’ve germinated in pots, so I’ve watched several batches of the seedlings develop. The only other seedlings that are similar are those of grapes which are in the same family as the Virginia Creeper, but grapes won’t have the divided leaf. Now there are only a couple thousand more Ohio species that I have to learn at the seedling stage.