VITACE^) VINE FAMILY 



Psedera quinquefolia, (L.) Greene. 



Whitish or yellow-green Virginia Creeper, American Ivy, 



Woodbine, Five-fingered Ivy, 



July- August False Grape, Five-leaf Ivy. 



Psedera: name probably a contraction of the Greek de- 

 noting "false ivy." 

 Quinquefolia: Latin for five leaves. 



THE PREFERRED HABITAT: bushes in damp, open thickets. 



THE VINE : often several feet in length, branched ; the stems 

 more or less woody, hairless. 



THE LEAVES: alternate; palmately compound, with five 

 to seven (generally five) lanceolate leaflets, the leaflets 

 dull green, decidedly paler beenath, hairless, acute or 

 tapering to a point at the apex, with unmistakable though 

 short, reddish petioles, hairless, rather coarsely saw- 

 toothed, conspicuously veined and grooved; the five to ten 

 slightly leaf-like tendrils branched and ending in adhering 

 disks. 



THE FLOWERS: very small in compound panicles; the main 

 branches unequal. 



THE FRUIT: a "cadet blue" berry. 



A familiar trailing vine that is frequently cultivated. 

 It climbs by means of aerial rootlets and tendrils tipped 

 with a flat disc. A really decorative vine with tiny, whitish 

 or yellowish green flowers, coloured stems and petioles, and 

 five to seven lance-shaped, sharply toothed, deep green 

 leaflets, which in the fall turn a brilliant deep red. Fre- 



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