High-climbing vine but often also bushy, with few or no tendrils; petiole 1-3 cm; lvs bipinnate or partly tripinnate, 1-2 dm, broadly triangular, the lfls ovate to rhombic, 2-5 cm, on short petiolules or subsessile, deeply toothed with a few large triangular teeth; infls much shorter than the lvs, each of the principal forks with a compact, subumbellate cluster of fls; fr dark purple to black; 2n=40. Wet or alluvial soil, chiefly on or near the coastal plain; se. Va. to Fla., Tex., and n. Mex., and n. in the interior to s. Ill. June, July. (Cissus a.)
Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.