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Ampelopsis cordata Michx.

Modern name

Ampelopsis cordata Michx.

Synonyms

Vitis indivisa Willd.

A vigorous deciduous climber; young bark warted, not or very slightly downy; tendrils forked, sometimes absent. Leaves roundish ovate, more or less heart-shaped at the base, shallowly but sharply toothed; glabrous or slightly downy along the veins and in the vein-axils beneath; 2 to 5 in. long, scarcely as wide; stalk often downy, shorter than the blade. Flowers on slender-stalked cymes 112 to 3 in. broad. Fruits blue or greenish blue.

Native of the south-east and south central United States; introduced in 1803. It is quite hardy and grows vigorously at Kew, but has no special attraction. The ends of the shoots are herbaceous and die back in winter, disarticulating at the nodes. Although the leaves have the typical Vitis shape, it is a true Ampelopsis, the sepals and petals being in fives, the latter separate and expanded, the bark not peeling.


Genus

Ampelopsis

Other species in the genus