Modern Uses: Virginia creeper is grown as an ornamental plant and can be used as a shading vine for buildings with masonry walls. The Cherokee and Iroquois are among the Native American tribes known to have utilized this species. The plant was also used as an herbal remedy for diarrhea, swelling, lockjaw, as well as a urinary aid. Also, a compound decoction of twigs was used as a wash to counteract poison sumac. Native American Uses: An infusion made from Virginia Creeper was used to treat jaundice.
Range: It can be found throughout the eastern and central regions of North America, as far west as Utah and Texas. It can adapt to disturbed habitats in both rural and urban areas. Habitat: Virginia Creeper will grow in deciduous woodlands, forest borders, thickets, gravelly seeps, limestone glades, rocky bluffs, fence rows, and walls of buildings. The berries are then eaten and distributed by a wide variety of songbirds. In the summer or early fall, the fruit form and mature into small hard purplish-black berries. The flowers are small and greenish, produced in clusters in the late spring. On houses it may need regular trimming to control where it. It grows over 30 feet tall and at least 10 feet wide, so don’t plant it in areas with limited space. The leaves are palmately compound, comprised of five leaflets joined from a central point on the leafstalk, and range from 1 to 8 inches across. Virginia Creeper It is a deciduous and woody vine that climbs up on other things and trails on the ground with the help of tendrils that have adhesive disks on. Virginia Creeper is a large self-supporting climbing plant that is valuable for large walls, fences and pergolas, as well as for ground cover in a wide range of difficult locations. The compound leaves are composed of 3 to 7 leaflets, usually 5. It climbs smooth surfaces using small forked tendrils tipped with small strongly adhesive pads. This climbing perennial vine flowers from June through August. The leaf blade is compound (i.e.(Parthenocissus quinquefolia (L.) Planch.) ClassificationĬharacteristics: Virginia creeper is a perennial plant and a prolific climber, reaching heights of 60 to 100 feet. The leaf blade margin is serrate (with forward-pointing) or dentate (with outward-pointing) with medium-sized to coarse teeth The petiole attaches at the basal margin of the leaf blade The midrib of the leaf blade lacks glands on the upper surface The plant is broad-leaved (with broadly flattened leaf blades) The leaves drop off in winter (or they wither but persist on the plant) The leaf blade has one main vein running from the base toward the tip The main veins of the leaf blade are pinnate (the secondary veins branch off at intervals from the main central vein) and non-arcuate (not arched towards the leaf tip) There are no translucent dots on the leaf blade
Virginia Creeper needs full sun to reach its full potential and put on a stunning fall foliage show, but consider planting in an area with partial shade when grown in warm climates. The inflorescence is a panicle (branched with the individual flowers on stalks) Virginia Creeper is a native plant that grows as a perennial in USDA zones 4 through 8.
There are two or more ways to evenly divide the flower (the flower is radially symmetrical) There are no enlarged sterile flowers on the plant