Parthenocissus

Parthenocissus (creepers) is a genus of climbing plants from the grape family, Vitaceae. It contains about 10 species, from Asia and North America. Several are grown for ornamental use.

The name is from Greek parthenos, "virgin", and kissos (Latinized as "cissus"), "ivy". The reason is variously given as the ability of these creepers to form seeds without pollination or the English name "Virginia creeper".

Parthenocissus species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including Brown-tail and The Gothic.Species:

• Parthenocissus austro-orientalis, from China
• Parthenocissus henryana, from China
• Parthenocissus heptaphylla, Sevenleaf Creeper, from Texas and Mexico
• Parthenocissus heterophylla, from China and Taiwan
• Parthenocissus himalayana, from the Himalaya, southern China and Taiwan
• Parthenocissus quinquefolia, Virginia Creeper, from eastern North America
• Parthenocissus semicordata, from the Himalaya
• Parthenocissus tricuspidata, Japanese Creeper or Boston Ivy, from eastern Asia
• Parthenocissus thomsonii, from China
• Parthenocissus vitacea, Thicket Creeper, Woodbine, or Grape Woodbine, from western and northern North America

References

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia © 2001-2006 Wikipedia contributors (Disclaimer)
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Last updated on Sunday May 04, 2008 at 11:26:15 PDT (GMT -0700)
View this article at Wikipedia.org - Edit this article at Wikipedia.org - Donate to the Wikimedia Foundation