Parthenocissus creepers, is a genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 of climbing plants from the grape family, Vitaceae

Vitaceae

Vitaceae are a family of dicotyledonous flowering plants including the grapevine and Virginia creeper. The family name is derived from the genus Vitis...

. It contains about 12 species, from Asia

Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...

 and North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

. Several are grown for ornamental use.

The name is from Greek

Greek language

Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...

 parthenos, "virgin", and kissos (Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

ized as "cissus"), "ivy". The reason is variously given as the ability of these creepers to form seeds without pollination

Pollen

Pollen is a fine to coarse powder containing the microgametophytes of seed plants, which produce the male gametes . Pollen grains have a hard coat that protects the sperm cells during the process of their movement from the stamens to the pistil of flowering plants or from the male cone to the...

 or the English name "Virginia creeper".

Parthenocissus species are used as food plants by the larva

Larva

A larva is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle...

e of some Lepidoptera

Lepidoptera

Lepidoptera is a large order of insects that includes moths and butterflies . It is one of the most widespread and widely recognizable insect orders in the world, encompassing moths and the three superfamilies of butterflies, skipper butterflies, and moth-butterflies...

 species including Brown-tail

Brown-tail

The brown-tail is a moth of the family Lymantriidae. It is distributed throughout Europe.The wings of this species are pure white, as is the body, apart from a tuft of brown hairs at the end of the abdomen. The brown coloration extends along most of the back of the abdomen in the male...

 and The Gothic

Gothic (moth)

The Gothic is a moth of the family Noctuidae. It is distributed in temperate Eurasia.This species has a wingspan of 36–46 mm. The forewings are broader than most other noctuids, blackish with a network of fine white lines . The hindwings are grey. The species flies at night in June and July...

.

Species

From Asia

• Three leaved
  • Parthenocissus chinensis
  • Parthenocissus heterophylla, from China and Taiwan
    Taiwan
    Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
    
    
  • Parthenocissus semicordata
    Parthenocissus semicordata
    Parthenocissus semicordata Planch. 1811 is a creeper related to the grapevine family. It is a native plant of the Himalaya. Its name is derived from Latin 'corda' meaning heart.- Growth :...
    
    , from the Himalaya
  • Parthenocissus feddei
• Five leaved
  • Parthenocissus henryana
    Parthenocissus henryana
    Parthenocissus henryana is related to the grape family and the most colourful of all Virginia creepers. It was named for the Irish botanist and plant collector Augustine Henry who discovered the species on his tour in Central China in the 1880s. It was introduced in Great Britain by Ernest Henry...
    
    , Chinese Virginia Creeper from China
  • Parthenocissus laetevirens
    Parthenocissus laetevirens
    Parthenocissus laetevirens is a climbing plant species in the genus Parthenocissus found in China.P. laetevirens contains the stilbene oligomers laetevirenol A, B, C, D and E, the stilbene tetramers laetevirenol F and G as well as the dimers of resveratrol parthenocissin A, quadrangularin A,...
    
    
• One or three leaved
  • Parthenocissus dalzielii
    Parthenocissus dalzielii
    Parthenocissus dalzielii is a creeper related to the grapevine family. It is a native plant of East and South-east Asia....
    
    , from east and south-east Asia
  • Parthenocissus suberosa
  • Parthenocissus tricuspidata
    Parthenocissus tricuspidata
    Parthenocissus tricuspidata is a flowering plant in the grape family native to eastern Asia in Japan, Korea, and northern and eastern China...
    
    , Japanese Creeper or Boston Ivy, from eastern Asia
    Asia
    Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
    
    

From North-America

• Seven or five-leaved
  • Parthenocissus heptaphylla, Sevenleaf Creeper, from Texas
    Texas
    Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
    
     and Mexico
    Mexico
    The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
    
    
  • Parthenocissus vitacea
    Parthenocissus vitacea
    Parthenocissus vitacea , also known as Thicket Creeper, False Virginia Creeper, Woodbine, or Grape Woodbine, is a woody vine native to North America, in southeastern Canada and a large area of the United States, from Maine west to Montana and south to New Jersey and Missouri in the east, and Texas...
    
    , Thicket Creeper, Woodbine, or Grape Woodbine, from western and northern North America
    North America
    North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
    
    
  • Parthenocissus quinquefolia
    Parthenocissus quinquefolia
    Virginia creeper, five-leaved ivy, or five-finger is a woody vine native to eastern and central North America, in southeastern Canada, the eastern and central United States, eastern Mexico, and Guatemala, west as far as Manitoba, South Dakota, Utah and Texas.-Growth:It is a prolific climber,...
    
    , Virginia Creeper, from eastern North America
    North America
    North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...