Virginia Creeper

or Ampelopsis, a fine climber. It is often called American ivy and woodbine. Flowers inconspicuous, July; blackberries in October. From five to seven leaflets spread out like the fingers of the hand. The creeper climbs over trunks of trees and walls by means of tendrils, terminating in flat disks or suckers. The foliage is handsome all summer, turning in autumn to a brilliant crimson. The creeper is a member of the vine family to which our wild grapes also belong. "As we were whirled along," says Thoreau, writing of a ride by train in autumn, "I noticed the woodbine, its leaves now changed, for the most part on dead trees draping them like a red scarf. It was a little exciting, suggesting bloodshed or, at least, an epaulet or sash as if it were dyed with the blood of the tree whose wound it was inadequate to staunch. For now the bloody autumn was come and an Indian warfare was waged through the forest."