Native and naturalized plants
Native and naturalized plants of the Carolinas and Georgia, eastern Tennessee and northern Florida

927
Weakley's Flora ( 4/7/08 ): Menispermaceae
Menispermum canadense

SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS National Database: Menispermaceae
Menispermum canadense

SYNONYMOUS WITH
Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (1968): Menispermaceae
079-02-001
Menispermum canadense

Common Name:
Moonseed

Vine
Perennial
Dioecious

Native to the Carolinas & Georgia
Common
Documented growing wild in GA NC SC

Look for it in moist nutrient-rich forests, esp on floodplains or lower slopes, per Weakley's Flora



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...Moist ...Variable ...Dry

Leaves:
Simple
Alternate

Flower:
Summer
Green
4-8 sepals
0-8 petals
12-24 stamens

Fruit:
Summer
Blue/Bluish-black
Drupe cluster

To learn more about this plant, look it up in a good book!
A Guide to the Wildflowers of SC p184
Gardening with the Native Plants of Tennessee p227
Native Shrubs and Woody Vines of the Southeast p059
Newcomb's Wildflower Guide p356
Woody Plants of the Blue Ridge p21




You may also want to check Trees, Shrubs, and Woody Vines of North Carolina

Click picture for larger image.

image of Menispermum canadense, image of Menispermum canadense
JK Marlow      jkm0305za_22


May
Buncombe County NC
Botanical Gardens at Asheville

 

image of Menispermum canadense, image of Menispermum canadense
JK Marlow      jkm070526_103


May
Henderson County NC

Acknowledgments to Patrick McMillan, Clemson University's Herbarium director, for taxonomic review

 

image of Menispermum canadense, image of Menispermum canadense
Patrick D. McMillan      pdmm_canadense


Month Unknown

 

"In most trees the smooth epidermis of twigs is shed as the bark thickens.... Cherry and birch trees retain the silky epidermal bark on limbs, and in patches, at least, on the trunks of old trees. Here the lenticels are seen as parallel, horizontal slits." — Julia E. Rogers, Trees Worth Knowing