SPECIES: Parthenocissus quinquefolia
Introductory
SPECIES: Parthenocissus quinquefolia
AUTHORSHIP AND CITATION :
Coladoanto, Milo. 1991. Parthenocissus quinquefolia. In: Fire Effects Information System, [Online].
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station,
Fire Sciences Laboratory (Producer). Available:
www.fs.usda.gov/database/feis/plants/vine/parqui/all.html [].
ABBREVIATION :
PARQUI
SYNONYMS :
NO-ENTRY
SCS PLANT CODE :
PAQU2
COMMON NAMES :
Virginia creeper
woodbine
thicket creeper
five-leaved ivy
TAXONOMY :
The currently accepted scientific name for Virginia creeper is
Parthenocissus quinquefolia (L.) Planch. [8]. Recognized varieties and
forms are as follows [33]:
P. quinquefolia var. hirsuta (Pursh) Planch.
P. quinquefolia var. minor (Graebn.) Rehd.
P. quinquefolia var. murorum (Focke) Rehd.
P. quinquefolia var. saint-paulii (Graebn.) Rehd.
P. quinquefolia forma engelmannii (Graebn.) Rehd.
LIFE FORM :
Vine
FEDERAL LEGAL STATUS :
No special status
OTHER STATUS :
NO-ENTRY
DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
SPECIES: Parthenocissus quinquefolia
GENERAL DISTRIBUTION :
Virginia creeper is widely distributed in the eastern and central United
States. Its range extends from Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana,
east to Florida and north through the Coastal Plain to Maine and Nova
Scotia, west to southern Ontario, and south through parts of Michigan,
Wisconsin, Iowa, eastern Nebraska, and Kansas [33,8].
ECOSYSTEMS :
FRES10 White - red - jack pine
FRES11 Spruce - fir
FRES12 Longleaf - slash pine
FRES13 Loblolly - shortleaf pine
FRES14 Oak - pine
FRES15 Oak - hickory
FRES16 Oak - gum - cypress
FRES17 Elm - ash - cottonwood
FRES18 Maple - beech - birch
STATES :
AL AR CT DE FL GA IA IL IN KS
KY LA ME MD MA MI MN MS MO NC
NE NH NJ NY OH PA RI SC TN TX
VA VT WI WV NS ON
BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS :
NO-ENTRY
KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS :
K084 Cross Timbers
K086 Great Lakes pine forest
K089 Black Belt
K090 Live oak - sea oats
K094 Conifer bog
K095 Great Lakes pine forest
K096 Northeastern spruce - fir forest
K097 Southeastern spruce - fir forest
K100 Oak - hickory forest
K101 Elm - ash forest
K102 Beech - maple forest
K103 Mixed mesophytic forest
K104 Appalachian oak forest
K106 Northern hardwoods
K107 Northern hardwood - fir forest
K108 Northern hardwood - spruce forest
K110 Northeastern oak - pine forest
K111 Oak - hickory - pine forest
K112 Southern mixed forest
K113 Southern floodplain forest
K114 Pocosin
K115 Sand pine scrub
SAF COVER TYPES :
1 Jack pine
5 Balsam fir
14 Northern pin oak
15 Red pine
20 White pine - northern red oak - maple
21 Eastern white pine
22 White pine - hemlock
23 Eastern hemlock
24 Hemlock - yellow birch
25 Sugar maple - beech - yellow birch
26 Sugar maple - basswood
27 Sugar maple
28 Black cherry - maple
30 Red spruce - yellow birch
31 Red spruce - sugar maple - beech
32 Red spruce
33 Red spruce - balsam fir
34 Red spruce - Fraser fir
35 Paper birch - red spruce - balsam fir
37 Northern white cedar
38 Tamarack
39 Black ash - American elm - red maple
40 Post oak - blackjack oak
43 Bear oak
44 Chestnut oak
45 Pitch pine
46 Eastern redcedar
51 White pine - chestnut oak
52 White oak - black oak - northern red oak
53 White oak
55 Northern red oak
57 Yellow poplar
58 Yellow poplar - eastern hemlock
59 Yellow poplar - white oak - northern red oak
60 Beech - sugar maple
61 River birch - sycamore
62 Silver maple - American elm
64 Sassafras - persimmon
65 Pin oak - sweetgum
69 Sand pine
70 Longleaf pine
72 Southern scrub oak
73 Southern redcedar
74 Cabbage palmetto
75 Shortleaf pine
76 Shortleaf pine - oak
78 Virginia pine - oak
79 Virginia pine
80 Loblolly pine - shortleaf pine
81 Loblolly pine
82 Loblolly pine - hardwood
83 Longleaf pine - slash pine
84 Slash pine
85 Slash pine - hardwood
87 Sweetgum - yellow poplar
88 Willow oak - water oak - diamondleaf oak
89 Live oak
91 Swamp chestnut oak - cherrybark oak
92 Sweetgum - willow oak
93 Sugarberry - American elm - green ash
94 Sycamore - sweetgum - American elm
95 Black willow
96 Overcup oak - water hickory
97 Atlantic white cedar
98 Pond pine
100 Pondcypress
101 Baldcypress - tupelo
103 Water tupelo - swamp tupelo
104 Sweetbay - swamp tupelo - redbay
109 Hawthorn
110 Black oak
SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES :
NO-ENTRY
HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES :
Common associates include southern magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora),
greenbrier (Smilax spp.), poison-ivy (Toxicodendron radicans), and
grape (Vitis spp.). A complete list of trees growing with Virginia
creeper would include a majority of trees growing in the eastern United
States [21,24].
MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS
SPECIES: Parthenocissus quinquefolia
IMPORTANCE TO LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE :
Songbirds are the principal consumers of Virginia creeper fruit, but
deer, squirrels, and other small animals also eat them [16,30]. Cattle
and deer sometimes browse the foliage [11].
PALATABILITY :
NO-ENTRY
NUTRITIONAL VALUE :
A combination tebuthiuron-fire treatment increased protein content of
Virginia creeper in a Cross Timbers oak woodland in Oklahoma. Percent
crude protein of plants collected on treated and control plots was as
follows [2]:
Sampling date
Treatment Year 6-1 7-4 8-15 9-1
-------------------------------------------------
Control 1985 12.6 10.7 ---- ---
Control 1986 10.3 8.6 ---- ----
Teb + fire 1985 13.6 12.5 14.4 12.0
Teb + fire 1986 14.6 10.3 13.1 14.4
COVER VALUE :
Virginia creeper provides cover for many small birds and mammals [11].
VALUE FOR REHABILITATION OF DISTURBED SITES :
Virginia creeper is used for watershed protection and erosion control
[11].
Propagation: Seeds can be sown in the fall or preferably in the spring
after stratification. Drilling and covering with about 3/8 inch (1 cm)
of soil or mulch is recommended. Optimum planting density is 10 plants
per square foot (0.1. sq m). Virginia creeper can also be propagated
from hardwood cuttings or layerings [11].
OTHER USES AND VALUES :
Virginia creeper is often cultivated as an ornamental because of its
attractive foliage. The bark has been used in domestic medicine as a
tonic, expectorant, and remedy for dropsy [33].
OTHER MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS :
Management considerations call for the control of Virginia creeper when
it competes with desirable pines and hardwoods. Aerial application of
Arsenal at about 4 to 6 pints per acre (1.9-2.8 l/ha) has been
recommended [19].
BOTANICAL AND ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS
SPECIES: Parthenocissus quinquefolia
GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS :
Virginia creeper is a deciduous liana that climbs by tendrils to a
height of 60 feet (18 m). The leaves are palmately compound, containing
five leaflets, and have acuminate tips [29,32]. The twigs are orange
brown, finely pubescent with pinnately branched tendrils ending in
adhesive discs. The fruit is a dark purple berry containing four seeds.
The flowers are green, perfect, and borne in panicles of compound cymes
[13,27].
RAUNKIAER LIFE FORM :
Phanerophyte
REGENERATION PROCESSES :
Vegetative: Virginia creeper sprouts from horizontal aboveground stems
[29].
Sexual: Wildlife use of Virginia creeper's fruit suggests that its
seeds are animal dispersed [32].
Natural germination is epigeal and occurs during the first or second
spring following dispersal. Germination can be improved by
stratification in moist sand or peat at 41 degrees Fahrenheit (5 deg C)
for about 60 days [11].
SITE CHARACTERISTICS :
Virginia creeper grows over a wide geographic range. It prefers soils
that are moist but grows well in a wide variety of soil types. Virginia
creeper is tolerant of shade but often grows in open places such as the
borders of clearings and along fence rows and streambanks [11,33].
SUCCESSIONAL STATUS :
Facultative Seral Species
Virginia creeper is a shade-tolerant, mid- to late-seral species. It
grows well under shade but will climb up trees, poles, and other
structures to reach the sunlight [9,20]. It is a component of climax
forests in the eastern United States [4,5,12].
SEASONAL DEVELOPMENT :
Virginia creeper flowers between June and July; fruit ripens between
August and October [11].
FIRE ECOLOGY
SPECIES: Parthenocissus quinquefolia
FIRE ECOLOGY OR ADAPTATIONS :
Virginia creeper is not well adapted to fire. The thin bark provides
little insulation for the cambium and the often exposed roots [6].
FIRE REGIMES:
Find fire regime information for the plant communities in which this
species may occur by entering the species name in the FEIS home page
under "Find Fire Regimes".
FIRE EFFECTS
SPECIES: Parthenocissus quinquefolia
IMMEDIATE FIRE EFFECT ON PLANT :
Most fires top-kill Virginia creeper plants [6].
DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF FIRE EFFECT :
NO-ENTRY
PLANT RESPONSE TO FIRE :
Following fire, Virginia creeper may sprout from surviving root crown or
remaining live stems [1,3].
DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF PLANT RESPONSE :
The Research Project Summary Effects of surface fires in a mixed red and
eastern white pine stand in Michigan and the Research Paper by Bowles and
others 2007 provide information on prescribed fire and postfire response of
several plant species, including Virginia creeper, that was not available
when this species review was written.
FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS :
Fire can be an effective agent in controlling Virginia creeper.
Seedlings and sprouts can usually be eliminated as a result of normal
underburning regimes in most commercial pine stands [15,17].
REFERENCES
SPECIES: Parthenocissus quinquefolia
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FEIS Home Page
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