Flora of North America species comparison

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Cissus

treebine
Habit Lianas, climbing by tendrils, synoecious or polygamomonoecious.
Branches

bark adherent;

pith white, continuous through nodes;

tendrils unbranched or 2-branched [3–6-branched], without adhesive discs.
Leaves

simple or palmately compound [pinnately compound].
Inflorescences

bisexual or functionally unisexual, leaf-opposed, corymblike cymes, sometimes compound.
Flowers

bisexual or unisexual;

calyx cup-shaped, indistinctly 4-lobed;

petals 4, distinct;

nectary adnate to base of ovary, cup-shaped, entire or 4-lobed;

stamens 4;

style conic or cylindric, elongate.
Berries

blue-black to black.
Seeds

1(–4) per fruit.
x

= 12.

Cissus
Distribution
map from USDA
North America; Mexico; Central America; South America; West Indies; Bermuda; Asia; Africa; Indian Ocean Islands (Madagascar); Pacific Islands; Australia; mostly tropical and subtropical regions
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Species ca. 350 (2 in the flora).

Cissus antarctica Ventenat, kangaroo vine, has been reported as escaped in California but probably is not naturalized there. Like C. verticillata, it has simple leaves, but it can be distinguished from that species by having rusty to brown, appressed (versus grayish white, erect) hairs on branchlets and leaves, prominent domatia in the abaxial secondary vein axils (versus no domatia), and dark blue (versus black) fruits.

Etymology: Greek kissos, ivy

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Parent taxa Vitaceae
Subordinate taxa
C. trifoliata, C. verticillata
Key
1. Leaves simple, blade unlobed, surfaces usually hairy, sometimes glabrous.
C. verticillata
1. Leaves usually 3-foliolate, sometimes simple and blade 3-lobed, rarely unlobed, surfaces glabrous.
C. trifoliata
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 117. (1753): Gen. Pl. ed. 5, 53. (1754)
Source FNA vol. 12, p. 20. Treatment authors: Michael O. Moore†, Jun Wen.
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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