This vine climbs trees to a height of 60 feet, and prefers full sunlight. It is recommended for ornamental planting because of its large and highly colored, though ill-scented, flowers which appear the last of May. It grows on wooded slopes and alluvial bottoms along streams. Without doubt Thompson's record from Carroll County either should be referred to the next species or considered a cultivated specimen. Miss Edna Banta informs me that this species grows along the Ohio River in Jefferson County, 2 miles east of Madison. We have had it in cultivation for 9 years and in that time it has climbed a walnut tree to a height of 35 feet.

Climbing to 10-15 m; petioles 1-2 cm; lfls 2, oblong or elliptic, subacuminate, entire, narrowed to a cordate base; cal 5-8 mm; cor 5 cm; fr 15-20 cm; seeds 3 cm; 2n=40. Moist woods; s. Md. to s. O. and s. Mo., s. to Fla. and La. May, June. (Anisostichus c.; A. crucigera)

Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

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