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• Akebia quinata

Akebia quinata — chocolate-vine

Facts

Chocolate-vine is a twining vine from Korea and Japan. It has distinctive, five-"fingered" compound leaves with notched tips. Its brown flowers give it its "chocolate" name. This fast-growing vine can become invasive. Its sausage-shaped fruits are edible, though apparently taste bad.

Habitat

Anthropogenic (man-made or disturbed habitats), forest edges, forests, meadows and fields, ridges or ledges

Characteristics

• Buds or leaf scars

  Bud scale number

  there are three or more scales on the winter bud, and they overlap like shingles, with one edge covered and the other edge exposed

  Bud scar shape (Fraxinus)

  NA

  Collateral buds

  there are no collateral buds on the sides of the branches

  Superposed buds

  there are no superposed buds on the branch

• Flowers

  Enlarged sterile flowers

  there are no enlarged sterile flowers on the plant

  Flower petal color

  NA

  Flower symmetry

  there are two or more ways to evenly divide the flower (the flower is radially symmetrical)

  Hairs on ovary (Amelanchier)

  NA

  Inflorescence type

  the inflorescence is a raceme (a long unbranched stem with stalked flowers growing along it)

  Number of pistils

  3

  Ovary position

  the ovary is above the point of petal and/or sepal attachment

  Petal and sepal arrangement

  the flower includes only one cycle of petals or sepals

  Petal appearance

  • NA
  • the petals are thin and delicate, and pigmented (colored other than green or brown)

  Petal fusion

  the perianth parts are separate

  Sepal cilia (Ilex)

  NA

  Stamen number

  • 6
  • 7
  • 8

• Fruits or seeds

  Berry color

  • NA
  • purple

  Fruit type (general)

  the fruit is dry and splits open when ripe

  Fruit type (specific)

  • the fruit is a follicle (has one ovary that splits along one side to release the seeds)
  • the fruit is an aggregate (composed of multiple fused ovaries from one flower)

  Nut with spines (Fagaceae)

  NA

  Wings on fruit

  there are no wings on the fruit

• Glands or sap

  Stalked glands on fruit (Rosa)

  NA

• Growth form

  Growth form

  the plant is a liana (a woody plant with a vine-like growth form)

• Leaves

  Hairs on upper side of leaf blade

  the upper side of the leaf is not hairy, or has very few hairs

  Leaf blade base shape

  the base of the leaf blade is rounded

  Leaf blade edges

  the edge of the leaf blade has no teeth or lobes

  Leaf blade edges (Acer)

  NA

  Leaf blade hairs

  NA

  Leaf blade shape

  the leaf blade is orbicular (roughly circular, as wide as long)

  Leaf blade texture

  • the leaf blade is coriaceous (has a firm, leathery texture)
  • the leaf blade is herbaceous (has a leafy texture)

  Leaf duration

  • the leaves drop off in winter (or they wither but persist on the plant)
  • the leaves remain green all winter

  Leaf lobe tips (Quercus)

  NA

  Leaf stalk

  the leaves have leaf stalks

  Leaf stalk nectaries

  there are no nectaries on the leaf stalk

  Leaf teeth

  the edge of the leaf blade is entire (has no teeth or lobes)

  Leaf teeth hairs (Carya)

  NA

  Leaf type

  the leaf blade is compound (made up of two or more discrete leaflets

  Leaves per node

  there is one leaf per node along the stem

  Specific leaf type

  • the leaf is palmately compound with more than three leaflets
  • the leaf is palmately compound with three leaflets

• Place

  Habitat

  terrestrial

  New England state

  • Connecticut
  • Massachusetts

  Specific habitat

  • edges of forests
  • forests
  • man-made or disturbed habitats
  • meadows or fields
  • ridges or ledges

• Scent

  Plant odor

  the plant does not have much of an odor, or it has an unpleasant or repellant odor

• Stem, shoot, branch

  Aerial roots

  the plant has no aerial roots

  Bark texture

  • the bark of an adult plant is ridged or plated
  • the bark of an adult plant is thin and smooth

  Branch brittleness (willows only)

  NA

  Branch cross-section

  the branch is circular in cross-section, or it has five or more sides, so that there are no sharp angles

  First-year cane (Rubus)

  NA

  Twig papillae (Vaccinium species only)

  NA

  Twig winter color

  • brown
  • gray
  • red

  Wings on branch

  the branch does not have wings on it

  armature on plant

  the plant does not have spines, prickles, or thorns

Wetland status

Not classified

New England distribution and conservation status

From the dichotomous key of Flora Novae Angliae