Find:part shade, shade; average to moist soil; deciduous woods, thickets, floodplains, wooded slopes, bluffs, stream and river banks.
Description:Leaves are alternate, 2 to 6+ inches long, 1 to 5 inches wide, mostly egg-shaped, rounded to pointed at the tip, rounded to heart-shaped at the base, on a stalk up to ¾ inch long. The upper surface is hairless, the lower hairless though may have a few prickles along major veins. Edges are minutely toothed, especially near the base. Leaves along most of the stem typically have a pair of long tendrils at the base of the stalk; these tendrils twine around supporting vegetation and enable the plant to climb.New branches are green, turning brown with age, and variably covered in dark brown to blackish prickles of varying sizes. Lower stems are usually densely prickly while upper stems are more sparsely so, or sometimes smooth. Stems are branched, erect to ascending, or more sprawling when supporting vegetation is not available, single or multiple from the woody base. Plants may form colonies from short, knotty rhizomes.Fruit is a round berry 1/3 inch or so in diameter that ripens from green to black.
Edible parts and uses:are good as asparagus, in salad, and cooked by using the young shoots, leaves, and tendrils. If the rootstocks of these vines are crushed and washed, the red powder can be boiled in water to make a mild jelly. This powder can also be mixed 50/50 with wheat flour to create a thickening agent. can be diluted in water to make a cold drink.
Precautions:no side effects.
