Parthenocissus inserta

Parthenocissus inserta is a climbing and sprawling woody vine (liana), reaching lengths of , using small branched tendrils with twining tips. The leaves are palmately compound, composed of five leaflets, each leaflet reaching in length and 7 cm broad. The leaflets have a coarsely toothed margin. They contain oxalates. Similar species Parthenocissus inserta is closely related to and commonly confused with Parthenocissus quinquefolia (Virginia creeper). They differ in their means of climbing, with the tendrils twining around plant stems in P. inserta lacking the round, adhesive discs found on the tendril tips of P. quinquefolia, though the ends may be club-shaped when inserted into a crevice. One consequence of this is that (unlike P. quinquefolia) it cannot climb smooth walls, only through shrubs and trees. In addition, the leaflets of P. inserta are shiny when young and only slightly pale below, while those of P. quinquefolia are dull above and pale green, whitened, or glaucous below. The petiolules of mature P. inserta leaflets are typically long, versus sessile or up to 10 mm in P. quinquefolia. ==Taxonomy==

Parthenocissus inserta was first described in 1887 by Anton Kerner, as Vitis inserta. It was transferred to Parthenocissus by Karl Fritsch in 1922. Separately, in 1893, Ellsworth Brownell Knerr described it as the variety vitacea of Ampelopsis quinquefolia (a synonym of Parthenocissus quinquefolia). Albert Spear Hitchcock raised the variety to the full species Parthenocissus vitacea in 1894. Kerner's epithet inserta has priority over Knerr's vitacea, so the correct name is Parthenocissus inserta. ==Distribution and habitat==

It can be found in southeastern Canada (west to southern Manitoba) and a large area of the United States, from Maine west to Montana and south to New Jersey and Missouri in the east, and Texas to Arizona in the west. It is becoming invasive in northeast Louisiana. It is present in California, but it may be an introduced species that far west. It is introduced in Europe. ==Ecology==

The flowers of thicket creeper are frequently visited by Mordella marginata, a tumbling flower beetle. Several bee species have been observed collecting pollen from the flowers, including the sweat bees Augochlora pura, Lasioglossum subviridatum, and Lasioglossum zephyrus. Parthenocissus inserta, Jan Celliers Park.jpg|Leaves and tendrils Thicket creeper (48768910012).jpg|Flowers ParthenocissusVitacea.jpg|Detail of berries ==Health concerns==

The plant may cause dermatitis. ==References==