Parthenocissus tricuspidata seed

LATIN NAME: Parthenocissus tricuspidata

COMMON NAME: Boston Ivy, Japanese Creeper, Grape Ivy

Boston ivy is one of the most familiar and most beautiful of the wall climbers, and its carpet of glossy green leaves, turning a brilliant crimson in the autumn, has clothed the walls of the world for a very long time. It grows as a vigorous, woody, deciduous climber, reaching up to twenty metres, with the characteristic, three-lobed, glossy leaves and, in summer, the inconspicuous greenish flowers, followed by the small, round, dark blue-black berries, while it climbs the walls and the trees by means of the adhesive pads on its tendrils, and does not need a support to hold it. It is a species of the grape family, native to eastern Asia, where it thrives in the floodplain bushes, the riverside woodland and the moist mountain mixed forests, and it is grown around the temperate world as a beloved wall climber.

Boston ivy belongs to the grape family, Vitaceae, and it is a species of flowering plant native to eastern Asia, where it thrives in the floodplain bushes, the riverside woodland and the moist mountain mixed forests. It is known as the Boston ivy, the Japanese creeper or the grape ivy, and it is prized for its glossy foliage and its brilliant autumn colour.

Scientific Research & Plant Biotechnology

Boston ivy has a genuine and growing place in both horticultural and ecological research. It has been studied in horticulture, since it is one of the most familiar and most beautiful of the wall climbers, prized for its carpet of glossy foliage and its brilliant autumn colour, and researchers have examined its cultivation, its climbing and its management, while the remarkable adhesive pads by which it holds to the walls have been studied, and the use of the climber on the walls and the facades of the buildings has been examined. The climber has also been studied in ecology and in the research on the green walls, since it is a native of the eastern Asian woodlands and it has been grown across the temperate world, and researchers have examined its growth and its behaviour in the regions where it has been introduced, while the value of the wall climbers in the cooling and the greening of the cities has drawn attention in the international urban gardening press. The species has also been studied in botany, since it is a member of the grape family, and its classification and its relationships have been examined. For a climber of such beauty and such usefulness, Boston ivy has a rich and growing record of research.

Ecological & Economic Value & Wide Applications

Ecologically, Boston ivy is a generous climber of the wall and the woodland. Its dark berries feed the birds, and its dense carpet of leaves gives shelter to the small animals, while it is a brilliant crimson presence on the walls and the trees in the autumn.

Its economic value is real. It is one of the most planted of the wall climbers, grown on the walls, the fences and the facades around the temperate world, and its brilliant autumn colour has drawn attention in the international gardening and urban press as a beloved climber of the wall and a helper of the green city, while its berries feed the birds. For a grower, Boston ivy is an easy and vigorous climber, and for a gardener it brings a carpet of glossy leaves that turns crimson in the autumn. The seeds need a spell of cold — keep them in damp compost in the fridge for a couple of months, then sow them in a pot of moist, free-draining compost in a sunny or lightly shaded spot, and they’ll sprout steadily, growing on into a vigorous, crimson-leaved climber.

Uses: garden, green, decorative