Parthenocissus tricuspidata

Parthenocissus tricuspidata is a flowering plant in the grape family (Vitaceae) native to eastern Asia in Korea, Japan, and northern and eastern China. Although unrelated to true ivy, it is commonly known as Boston ivy, grape ivy, and Japanese ivy, and also as Japanese creeper, and by the name woodbine (though the latter may refer to a number of different vine species).

Description
It is a deciduous woody vine growing to 30 m tall or more given suitable support, attaching itself by means of numerous small branched tendrils tipped with sticky disks. The leaves are simple, palmately lobed with three lobes, occasionally unlobed or with five lobes, or sufficiently deeply lobed to be palmately compound with (usually) three leaflets; the leaves range from 5 to 22 cm across. The flowers are inconspicuous, greenish, in clusters; the fruit is a small dark blue grape 5–10 mm diameter.

The specific epithet tricuspidata means three-pointed, referring to the leaf shape.

Cultivation and uses


Boston ivy is readily distinguished from the Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia) by its simple leaves with pointed lobes (Virginia creeper leaves are divided into five separate leaflets).

P. tricuspidata uses adhesive pads to attach to surfaces, allowing it to climb vertically up trees, walls, and other structures. Contact with a surface signals the adhesive pads to secrete mucilage through microscopic pores which dries and creates a robust adhesive bond. The ability of a single adhesive pad to support thousands of times their weight may be explored as a model for new biomimetic materials.

In its native range, the vine has traditional medicinal uses (China, Korea) and as a culinary sweetener (Japan).

Both within and outside of East Asia, the plant is primarily used as an ornamental plant. Cultivars include 'Veitchii'.

Like the related Virginia creeper, P. tricuspidata is widely grown to cover the façades of masonry buildings. This usage is actually economically important because, by shading walls during the summer, it can significantly reduce cooling costs.

While it does not penetrate the building surface but merely attaches to it, nevertheless surface damage (such as paint scar) can occur from attempting to rip the plant from the wall. However, if the plant is killed first, such as by severing the vine from the root, the adhesive pads will eventually deteriorate to the point where the plant can be easily removed from the wall.

In the U.S., Boston ivy is used on the brick outfield walls at Wrigley Field of baseball's Chicago Cubs along with Japanese bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus).

Names and etymology
Parthenocissus is derived from the Greek terms parthenos (παρθένος; "maidenly, chaste, virgin") and kissos (κισσός; "vine") and means approximately "virgin ivy" (hence the common name of the related "Virginia creeper"). Tricuspidata, meaning approximately "with three points", comes from the Greek and Latin prefix tri ("three") and the Latin cuspidata ("tipped, pointed").

In Mandarin Chinese, the plant goes by a number of names, most commonly páqiánghǔ (爬墙虎, lit. "wall-climbing tiger"), but also páshānhǔ (爬山虎, lit. "mountain-climbing tiger", also refers to Hedera helix), dìjǐn (地錦, lit. "earth brocade", the name used in the Compendium of Materia Medica and the common name in Taiwan), tǔgǔténg (土鼓藤, lit. "dirt drum vine") and hóng pútáo téng (红葡萄藤, lit. "red grapevine").

In Taiwanese Hokkien, the vine also has several names, including chhiûⁿ-piah-tîn (牆壁藤, lit. "wall vine"), peh-soaⁿ-hó͘  (𬦰山虎, lit. "mountain-climbing tiger"), âng-koah (紅葛, lit. "red vine"), thô͘-kó͘-tîn (土鼓藤 lit. "dirt drum vine", a cognate with the Mandarin) and âng-kut-chôa (紅骨蛇, lit. "red-boned snake", a name that refers to at least five other plants as well).

In Korean, the plant is called damjaeng'ideonggul (담쟁이덩굴) in reference to it growing on walls. In contexts of Korean traditional medicine, it is known as jigeum (지금/, a cognate with the Mandarin Chinese dìjǐn from the Compendium of Materia Medica, as well as other names such as nakseok (낙석/), jangchundeung (장춘등/), pasanho (파산호/), naman (나만/) and yongninbyeongnyeo (용린벽려/).

In Japanese, the vine is known usually as tsuta (蔦; つた;ツタ), but also as amazura (甘葛; あまづら; アマヅラ), lit. "sweet vine" natsuzuta (夏蔦; なつづた; ナツヅタ), or rarely jinishiki (地錦; じにしき;ジニシキ).

In Okinawan, the vine is called cita (蔦; つぃた), while in the Taiwanese indigenous language Paiwan it is tiyaroromao.