Photographs: near Kinsale, Co. Cork

Virginia Creeper Parthenocissus quinquefolia Athair Family: Rhamnaceae Flowering: June-July. Deciduous climber. Introduced. Inconspicuous small green flowers with deflexed petals are followed by round, red ripening to black berries. The leaves have 5 coarse-toothed leaflets and turn bright red in the autumn. Very vigorous growth, the branched tendrils helping it climb, sprawl and spread to 30m. A garden escape or a relic of cultivation on waste ground, roadsides, railway embankments, walls and in hedges.

Virginia Creeper, Parthenocissus quinquefolia, Athair