|
Virginia creeper, native woody vine (Parthenocissus quinquefolia) of the family Vitaceae (grape family), tall growing and popular as a wall covering in the temperate United States. It has blue-black berries and clings by disk-tipped tendrils, some branches hanging free in graceful festoons. The five-fingered leaves : brilliant yellow to red in the fall : are sometimes confused with the three-fingered poison ivy. The Virginia creeper belongs to the same genus as the Boston, or Japanese, ivy. Other names are American ivy, woodbine, and ampelopsis. Virginia creeper is classified in the division Magnoliophyta, class Magnoliopsida, order Rhamnales, family Vitaceae.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia Copyright © 2009, Columbia
University Press.
Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
|
