262. VIRGINIA CREEPER (_Psedera quinquefolia_ Greene) (_Parthenocissus
q._ Planch.) or woodbine: common woodland vine preferring lowlands,
climbing tall trees or covering stumps. Leaves: alternate, palmately
compound, of 5 to 7 leaflets, irregularly toothed, tapering at each end,
2 to 4 in. long; turning bright scarlet in early fall. Flowers:
clustered, inconspicuous. Fruit: bluish, round, like tiny grapes,
popular with birds. More than one species but not readily distinguished.
Some have adhesive disks at the tips of tendrils. Often but needlessly
confused with poison ivy.
[Illustration: 262 Virginia creeper]
263. PEPPER VINE (_Cissus arborea_ Des Moulins) a fairly common vine in
river bottoms and low, sandy soils. Leaves: alternate, twice-pinnately
compound, dark green, reddish when young and in autumn; resembling
chinaberry; decorative. Stems: slender. Flowers: whitish, small. Fruit:
like small grapes but glossy black, inedible, ripe in August. K (p.
223).
[Illustration: 263 pepper vine]
264. COW-ITCH VINE (_Cissus incisa_ Des Moulins) a rather rare vine
preferring open, sandy woods. Leaves: fleshy, sometimes palmately
compound, or deeply 3-lobed or 3-parted. Stems: somewhat fleshy.
Flowers: small, in compound umbels, usually 4 spreading petals. Fruit:
small, grape-like, blackish. K (p. 222).
[Illustration: 264 cow-itch vine]
265. (_CISSUS AMPELOPSIS_ Pers.) no common name; a rare vine of low
woods. Leaves: grape-like, but smooth and thin, broadly oval, or
heart-shaped, coarsely toothed. Fruit: bluish, inedible, like small
grapes. Main STEM: sometimes with many short, leafy branches. B (Vol.
II, p. 509).
[Illustration: 265 _Cissus ampelopsis_]
266. MUSTANG GRAPE (_Vitis candicans_ Engelm.) abundant vine of roadside
thickets and woods. Leaves: large, angled, shallow-toothed, very wooly
beneath; the leaves of young shoots are usually deeply, many-lobed in
marked contrast to the older. Flowers: small, whitish, fragrant, in
drooping clusters. Fruit: large as marbles, acid, but palatable,
blackish, ripe July. K (p. 220).
267. SUMMER GRAPE (_Vitis species_) a vine of woods and roadside
thickets. Leaves: large, unlobed to deeply lobed, wooly when young.
Fruit: small, pleasant, ripe in autumn.