Flora of New Zealand Series

Virginia creeper

Deciduous, low climbing, scrambling or trailing liane. Tendrils present at each stem node, branched, their apices finely pointed and nearly always lacking adhesive pads. Lvs palmate with (3)-5-(7) leaflets; petioles often reddish. Petiolules to c. 1.5 cm long. Lamina of leaflets very variable, mainly 2.5-10 × 1.5-5.5 cm, ovate, rhombic-ovate, or obovate, ± hairy below at first, especially on veins, becoming glabrous or glabrate, coarsely serrate, becoming coloured in autumn; base cuneate; apex acuminate. Infl. almost paniculate; cymes dichotomous with several branches; peduncles and pedicels dark reddish. Calyx cup-shaped, truncate, 0.5-1 mm long, often reddish. Petals 2.5-3.5 mm long, ± oblong, green. Stamens subequal to petals. Berry (5)-7-10 mm diam., red, becoming black with a bluish bloom; juice dark red.

N.: Hamilton (banks of the Waikato R.), Hutt Valley; S.: West Coast (especially Carter's Beach south of Westport and an old gold-mining area south of Hokitika).

N. America 1946

Scrub and waste places in the vicinity of old houses and settlements.

FL Nov-Apr.

P. inserta is more commonly cultivated in the South Id than the North Id. It is closely related to P. quinquefolia (L.) Planchon and was first recorded as that sp. P. quinquefolia differs in the presence of adhesive pads at the tendril apices enabling the plants to climb high, and also in having tendrils with more branches and more obviously paniculate infls. However, some cultivated plants in N.Z. have intermediate infls and a few tendril pads and such plants are occasionally wild. Plants readily identifiable as P. quinquefolia are rare in cultivation and are not known to be wild in N.Z. Both spp. are known as Virginia creeper in N. America and their distributions overlap, with P. inserta extending further N. and W.