AMPELOPSIS. 219 



stocks, and, properly pruned, will make a great show when in 

 flower. 



AMPELOPSIS. 



Virginian Creeper. 



Ampelopsis quinquefolia. American Woodbine. " This 

 is the most ornamental plant of its genus. It recommends 

 itself by its hardiness, the rapidity of its growth, and the luxu- 

 riance and beauty of its foliage. It is a native of our woods, 

 and climbs rocks and trees to a great height. In cultivation it 

 is often made to cover walls of houses, forty or fifty feet high, 

 clinging by rootlets which proceed from its tendrils. The 

 flower is of a reddish-green, and not showy, which is suc- 

 ceeded by clusters of dark-blue, nearly black, berries when 

 mature. At the same period the fruit-stalks and tendrils 

 assume a rich crimson or red color. 



" The great variety of rich colors, shades of scarlet, crim- 

 son, and purple, which the leaves and stems of this plant 

 assume, and the situations in which we see it, climbing up the 

 trunks and spreading along the branches of trees, covering 

 walls and heaps of stones, forming natural festoons from tree 

 to tree, or trained on the sides and along the piazzas of dwell- 

 ing-houses, make it one of the conspicuous ornaments of the 

 autumnal months. Often, in October, it may be seen mingling 

 its scarlet and orange leaves, thirty or forty feet from the 

 ground, with the green leaves of the still unchanged tree on 

 which it climbed." (Emerson.) 



This luxuriant climber is easily propagated by layers and 

 cuttings. It flourishes best in a rich, moist soil. 



Examples of the surprising luxuriance of this plant may be 

 seen on a number of dwelling houses in Beacon street, Boston, 

 and on many other buildings in that city. 



