Hi, Haven't seen a vine like this any where else around here (Pittsburgh). It seems to have not spread locally from this (Ponderosa?)Pine tree & is not invasive, though it appears gregarious. It's covering the lower 25 feet of the trunk, and supports itself several feet out. It's in an old city cemetery. It shares the trunk with some hedera vine visible on the far left side. (There's plenty of Virginia Creeper, Poison Ivy, Wild Grape, Porcelian Berry, Canadian Moonseed, and Bittersweet around, but this is different, solitary & quite unusual.)
I wish someone else were answering you, as I'm no expert. But I think it's the same hedera you see on the other side. Young growth on ivies has fewer lobes on the leaves, and the fruits grow on that young growth, particularly once the vine is climbing. Invasive it is, and it's those beautiful seeds eaten by the birds that get it spread around. I'm editing this to add a link from a posting in the Invasive Plants forum: http://www.nps.gov/plants/ALIEN/fact/hehe1.htm The third photo shows leaves like the ones you've posted. Oh, and welcome to the forums. Are you just visiting Pittsburgh? You give your location as Norwood, Colorado.
Pics 2. and 3. are as you say Hedera helix. Common name common ivy. That is what I believe I am seeing also in Pic 1. covering the whole tree trunk. http://images.google.com/imgres?img...gb:IE-ContextMenu&rlz=1I7SUNA_en-GB&sa=N&um=1 Scroll down to see pic and write up....... http://images.google.com/imgres?img...n-gb:IE-SearchBox&rlz=1I7SUNA_en-GB&sa=N&um=1
I believe it happens the other way round. Ivy first starts to climb very vigorously, at this stage the leaves are lobed. The climbing stems are covered with suckers which stick to the tree or rock on which the plant is climbing. http://images.google.com/imgres?img...n-gb:IE-SearchBox&rlz=1I7SUNA_en-GB&sa=N&um=1 As it matures, it alters to the plain leaf, at the same time it flowers on these mature shoots. http://www.floralimages.co.uk/images/hedera_helix_1a1a.jpg
Hi, Thanks for all the replys and the welcoming to this forum (I'm visiting Pitttsburgh, but have been living near Norwood). I Should of looked closer, but my eyes were tricked. I went back & took some more photos, attached. Also, thank You for the comment on the tree species. Hedera helix it is, and with an amazing ability to transform its leaves/growth form?? I've observed some similar type of behavior (can plants behave?) in Oriental Bittersweet, Celastrus orbiculatus where it can be a freestanding bush 10 to 15' tall and/or send out 40'vine extensions (same plant!)---this locally in the Pittsburgh area (but the leaf shape stayed the same). And, come to think of it the local poison ivy (Pittsburgh) seems to morph into different growth forms.........vining over the ground.........to 3 to 4 foot bushes.......to taking taking over forest trees similar to this Hedera (but virtually the whole tree, and supporting its own branches 7 to 10 feet out from the trunk, but the leaves seem to stay the same). Are there other examples of plants morphing like this??? Anybody studying this?? Is there a word that describes this 'behavior'? Is this pleomorphism in plants??
Thanks for the clarification, Silver Surfer. I'd just read that description, but you've just made it make sense to me. Surely what it meant is that the new growth on the mature shoots is where you find those leaves and fruits. Steff77, I can't answer your questions, but yes, plants can behave. Can you say they're misbehaving when they're doing what comes naturally, like smothering this pine and a lot of the native growth around them? My friends are busy pulling up ivy in local parks and watersheds.
