How to Identify Vines Growing in My Landscape

Look at the size of the vines you discover in your landscape. Larger vines native to North America include the cross vine (Bignonia capreolata), Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia) and the sarsaparilla plant (Smilax hispida), all of which can grow to lengths greater than 40 feet. Vines such as woodbine (Clematis virginiana) and American bittersweet (Celastrus scandens) reach medium lengths of 15 to 20 feet. Smaller vine species include climbing milkweed (Matalea decipiens) and blue jasmine (Clematis crispa), growing between 6 and 10 feet.

Study the leaves of the vines you encounter to identify the species. Determine if the foliage is a simple leaf, such as those of American bittersweet, or composed of multiple leaflets on a central stem, such as those of Virginia creeper and woodbine. Look at the arrangement, shape, length and color of the leaves on vines to help you distinguish one from another. For example, the leaves of climbing milkweed grow opposite one another on the stems, are heart-shaped, mature to be 5 inches long and are a medium shade of green, notes the Missouri Botanical Garden.

Examine the flowers of the vines you find when in bloom to recognize vine species. Note the shape, color, size, arrangement and blooming time of the flowers. Cross vine's flowers have a shape like a trumpet, are reddish-orange, grow to 2 inches long and emerge in clusters of between two and five flowers in May and June.

Inspect the fruit or seeds yielded by the flowers of vines growing in your landscape. Examine them for their shapes, colors, size and when they ripen or open. In the case of American bittersweet, the flowers on the female vines give way as summer wears on to rounded, yellowish-orange fruits. These fruits break open in autumn; inside is what botanists call an aril, a berrylike seed. The aril of American bittersweet is scarlet.

Consider the geographic range of any vine you find growing in your landscape to help tell what type it is. Virginia creeper grows native to much of the eastern United States, while the distribution of the Dutchman's pipe (Aristolochia tomentosa) extends from Pennsylvania southward through Georgia.