Parthenocissus quinquefolia
species of plant
Parthenocissus quinquefolia, commonly known as Virginia creeper, woodbine, five-leaved ivy, or five-finger, is a species of flowering vine in the grape family Vitaceae.
The species is native to eastern and central North America, with its range extending from south-eastern Canada and the eastern United States, west to Manitoba and Utah, and as far south as eastern Mexico and Guatemala. It has been introduced globally and is considered an invasive species to varying degrees in the European Union, the United Kingdom, China, Australia, and Cuba.
Names
The genus name, Parthenocissus, is a Latinisation of the Greek παρθένος (parthénos, "virgin, maiden") + κισσός (kissós, "ivy"). The specific epithet, quinquefolia, derives from the Latin quinque ("five") + folia ("leaf"), referring to the leaflets on each compound (palmate) leaf.
The name Virginia creeper, referring to both the plant's "virgin" epithet and to part of its native range in the U.S. state of Virginia, is also used for the whole genus Parthenocissus, as well as for other species within the genus.
This plant is also known as woodbine in North America, although the term can refer to other plant species. Other names, such as five-leaved ivy and five-finger, refer to the leaves' characteristic palmately compound structure.
Parthenocissus quinquefolia has long been familiar to indigenous peoples in the Americas. In the Mohawk language, the plant is called kontiráthens.
The public source identifies “Parthenocissus quinquefolia” as species of plant. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Parthenocissus, quinquefolia and species.
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Stable identifiers, scientific names and standards terminology offer the best bridge between this overview and specialist evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 7, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q157968. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Parthenocissus quinquefolia” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.