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rattlebox

Unidentified vine in Florida

rattlebox
9 years ago

May be native, may be exotic. I have scoured the interned for many hours over several months trying to find an ID, but with no luck.

Note: It is not a Morning Glory (they twine) and it is not Coral Vine (the leaves are all wrong, including the seed leaves).

There are a few characteristics that should make the vine easy to identify for anyone even remotely familiar with it.

- The leaves are heart-shaped, grey-green in color.
- The edges of the leaves are notched (crenate) not serrate
- The vine does not twine, rather climbs by tendrils
- The seed leaves are very distinctively palmate shaped

Here are a few photos:

Comments (9)

  • PRO
    Joseph Corlett, LLC
    9 years ago

    Invader. Kill it:

    Here is a link that might be useful: Potato vine

  • rattlebox
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Thanks for your reply, but sorry, it is not Air Potato Vine. That was also one of the plants I had ruled out. (I had been invaded by those years ago). Those leaves are smooth-edged, green not glaucous, and the vines twine rather than use tendrils.

    I cannot find a photo of the seed-leaves of Air Potato Vine, but I have only found ONE plant with similar-looking cotyledons, the Basswod tree. Obviously this vine is not a Basswood tree.

    It looks similar to the Potato Vine, but unfortunately it's not the ID for this plant.

    This post was edited by rattlebox on Tue, Aug 19, 14 at 21:36

  • nel5397
    9 years ago

    It could be a Cissus antartica. ( Kangaroo vine)

  • rattlebox
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Thanks nel5397

    I looked up the Kangaroo Vine. Unfortunately not a match.

  • lignumvitae
    9 years ago

    It looks like Cissus verticillata (= C. sicyoides).

  • rattlebox
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    I've just spent a lot of time researching the genus Cissus. No luck. Those with chordate leaves have either smooth or serrated margins. None were crenate (small notches rather than small points).

    The closest I found was Cissus sicyoides 'Albonitens', but still not a match.

    I have probably 50-75 or more of these growing on my property here in Florida, ranging from newly emerged seedlings to ~3 ft in length (probably nowhere near maturity). There were several dozen more this spring which I had pulled, thinking them too invasive. I now see them more as weedy than invasive. I will be allowing numerous of the current crop to grow in various habitats (shady, sunny, moist, somewhat dry) until I have a better understanding of the plant. Growth is moderate, and they have proven easy to pull and eradicate if/when it comes to that.

    I think I can safely rule out any from the genus Cissus.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Cissus sicyoides 'Albonitens'

  • missingtheobvious
    9 years ago

    rattlebox, you could contact your county's Extension Office:
    http://solutionsforyourlife.ufl.edu/map/#county

  • carolb_w_fl_coastal_9b
    9 years ago

    The lower left pic looks a lot like a morning glory...

  • rattlebox
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    lignumvitae, looks like you had the answer after all. I could not get past the crenate vs. dentate leaves. However, I have recently been seeing leaves that are decidedly dentate on a couple of my vines.

    Add to that the plentiful fine aerial roots several feet in length, there's no doubt I have a Cissus vine.

    As you indicated above, "Cissus verticillata (= C. sicyoides)", therefore, Cissus sicyoides 'Albonitens' should be written Cissus verticillata 'Albonitens'

    Albonitens is the silver-grey version of C. verticillata.

    Good call! It just took a few months of growth for the ID to become obvious.

    Thanks for your input!