Seasonal Wild Flowers

Virginia-creeper

Parthenocissus quinquefolia

Vitaceae

July

It is planted throughout England as a climber over stonework

and for its autumn colour.

Naturalised escapes are scattered throughout, but are most

common in southern counties.

See the BSBI distribution map for Virginia-creeper

It is a neophyte, which was introduced in the 1620s and recorded

in the wild in the 1920s.

It grows in hedgerows and beside railways and roads.

Virginia-creeper is a woody, self-clinging, perennial climber

growing up to 20m.

Flowers are in clusters up the stem.

They are small, with 5 green-yellow petals and 5 white anthers.

The style is bottle shaped and the stigma capitate.

The fruits are like small grapes.

Leaves are palmate with 5 or 6 different-sized, toothed leaflets.

Smaller leaves are heart-shaped and pointed.

Leaves are green in late spring turning to red and purple in

the autumn.

Virginia-creeper has tendrils with an adhesive disc for attachment

to surfaces.

Stems are robust and woody.

Virginia-creeper, clusters of flowers

Close-up of flowers - 5 stamens and

a capitate stigma on a broad style

Palmate leaves autumn colour

Smaller leaves in autumn

Climbing stems stuck to a wall in Dorset