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Ampelopsis arborea

Common name:	Pepper Vine	Family:	Vitaceae
Author:	(L.)Koehne.	Botanical references:	11, 43, 200
Synonyms:
Known Hazards:	None known
Range:	Southern N. America - Florida to Texas and north to Illinois and Oklahoma.
Habitat:	Swampy woods[43]. Rich moist soils[235]. Stream bottoms, fence posts and disturbed areas in Texas[274].
Edibility Rating (1-5):	2	Medicinal Rating (1-5):	0

Other Possible Synonyms:	From various places across the web, may not be correct. See below.
	A. bipinnata[B,P] Vitis arborea[G]
Other Common Names:	From various places around the Web, may not be correct. See below.
	Peppervine [P,B],
Epithets:	From a Dictionary of Botanical Epithets
	arborea = tree like
Systematics:	From a USDA Plants Database
	Order: Rhamnales. Grape family
Noxious, Invasive and Injurious Weeds	From USDA PLANTS database, Weeds Australia , DEFRA Injurious Weeds
	Listed as noxious/invasive for: USA Invasive.

Physical Characteristics

An evergreen climber growing to 10m. It is hardy to zone 7. It is in leaf all year, in flower from July to August. The flowers are monoecious (individual flowers are either male or female, but both sexes can be found on the same plant). We rate it 2/5 for edibility and 0/5 for medicinal use.

The plant prefers medium (loamy) soils. The plant prefers acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It can grow in semi-shade (light woodland) or no shade. It requires moist soil.

Habitats and Possible Locations

Woodland, Dappled Shade.

Edible Uses

Fruit.

Fruit - raw or cooked. A poor taste[177]. The fruit is about 8mm in diameter and contains 3 seeds[200, 235]. It is carried in small bunches on the plant, rather like grapes[K]. The flesh is thin and inedible[235].

Medicinal Uses

Disclaimer

None known

Other Uses

None known

Cultivation details

Prefers a deep rich loam in a warm sheltered position in sun or semi-shade[200].
A very ornamental plant[1], when dormant it is quite hardy in Britain, but is better grown on a wall[11]. The young growth in spring, even on mature plants, is frost-tender and so it is best to grow the plants in a position sheltered from the early morning sun[K]. It rarely flowers or fruits in this country except after a long hot summer[11, 182, 200]. Plants are deciduous in cold winters[219].
Plants climb by means of coiling tendrils but large plants often need tying in to support the weight of foliage[200].
Any pruning is best carried out in the winter[219].

Propagation

Seed - sow in pots in a cold frame in the autumn or stratify for 6 weeks at 5° c and sow in the spring[200]. Germination can be quite slow, sometimes taking more than a year. When large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and grow them on in the greenhouse for their first winter. When they are more than 20cm tall, they can be planted out into their permanent positions, preferably in late spring or early summer, after the last expected frosts.
Cuttings of half-ripe wood, 7 - 10cm long, July/August in a frame[78].
Cuttings or eyes in late autumn or winter. Either place them in the ground in a greenhouse or cold frame, or put them in pots. An eye cutting is where you have just one bud at the top and a short length of stem with a small part of the bark removed. These normally root well and grow away vigorously, being ready to plant into their permanent positions the following autumn.
Layering into pots in late summer. Partially sever the stem in spring and then lift the new plants in the autumn[78].

Suppliers

For more details of plant suppliers please see our Suppliers Page which lists many more places to look.

Web References

[V] Images from the Vascular Plant Image Gallery of the Texas A& M Bioinformatics Working Group.
[B] Data (Latin & Common names, other references) from the BONAP's Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
[G] Data (Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.
[P] Data. (uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.
[HP] Links, Photos, Suppliers from Hortiplex Plant Database

References for the family Vitaceae.

To be included in the Flora of China.

See the PFAF Links Pages for other sources.

Also try Photos and info from the The Plants Database which has 14,000 images.

References

[K] Ken Fern
Notes from observations, tasting etc at Plants For A Future and on field trips.

[1] F. Chittendon. RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956 Oxford University Press 1951
Comprehensive listing of species and how to grow them. Somewhat outdated, it has been replaces in 1992 by a new dictionary (see [200]).

[11] Bean. W. Trees and Shrubs Hardy in Great Britain. Vol 1 - 4 and Supplement. Murray 1981
A classic with a wealth of information on the plants, but poor on pictures.

[43] Fernald. M. L. Gray's Manual of Botany. American Book Co. 1950
A bit dated but good and concise flora of the eastern part of N. America.

[78] Sheat. W. G. Propagation of Trees, Shrubs and Conifers. MacMillan and Co 1948
A bit dated but a good book on propagation techniques with specific details for a wide range of plants.

[177] Kunkel. G. Plants for Human Consumption. Koeltz Scientific Books 1984 ISBN 3874292169
An excellent book for the dedicated. A comprehensive listing of latin names with a brief list of edible parts.

[182] Thomas. G. S. Ornamental Shrubs, Climbers and Bamboos. Murray 1992 ISBN 0-7195-5043-2
Contains a wide range of plants with a brief description, mainly of their ornamental value but also usually of cultivation details and varieties.

[200] Huxley. A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. MacMillan Press 1992 ISBN 0-333-47494-5
Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.

[219] Grey-Wilson. C. & Matthews. V. Gardening on Walls Collins 1983 ISBN 0-00-219220-0
A nice little book about plants for growing against walls and a small section on plants that can grow in walls.

[235] Britton. N. L. Brown. A. An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada Dover Publications. New York. 1970 ISBN 0-486-22642-5
Reprint of a 1913 Flora, but still a very useful book.

Readers Comments

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Plant information taken from the Plants For A Future - Species Database. Copyright (c) 1997-2003.
WEB search engine by Rich Morris - Home Page- Contact Info
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