Peppervine

When I wandered along Brushy Creek on August 31, in addition to snow-on-the-prairie and eryngo I found peppervine, Ampelopsis arborea. This native vine’s leaves look somewhat like those of another, the dreaded poison ivy, but peppervine’s compound leaves have more—often many more—than the three leaflets that characterize poison ivy. The daubs of pink and orange in the background are flower clusters of marsh fleabane, Pluchea odorata, a strong-scented member of the sunflower family that, unlike peppervine, usually has to be near water to survive.

Botanists classify peppervine in the same family as grapes, which of course are also vines. For more information about Ampelopsis arborea, including a clickable map of the states where it grows, you can visit the USDA website.

© 2011 Steven Schwartzman