Porcelain Berry, Porcelain Vine, or Porcelain Ampelopsis

(Vitaceae - Grape Family)

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• Form
  • small, tendril-twining, semi-woody ornamental vine
  • maturing at 10' or more in height
  • upright spreading growth habit
  • rapid growth rate

• Culture
  • full sun to partial shade
  • prefers a moist, well-drained soil of average fertility in partial sun, but is adaptable to poor soils, various soil pHs, heat, and drought
  • propagated by seeds or rooted stem cuttings
  • Grape Family, with cosmetic leaf damage due to feeding by Japanese Beetles in mid-Summer being the only major problem
  • low availability, as a staked vine in containers
  • establishes quickly and may colonize the immediate area by self-sowing
  • may be pruned back hard in early Spring to remove Winter dieback, keep under control, and/or thin out
  • can become out-of-control through rampant growth and self-sowing if neglected, especially in moist soils in sunny areas

• Foliage
  • alternate, shiny medium green to dark green to blue-green, ovate, shallowly to prominently trilobed, with rounded, acute, or acuminate apices, and serrated to incised for the species form (cultivars are often five-lobed, deeply cutleaf, and variegated)
  • fall color is unchanged and ornamentally ineffective

• Flowers
  • creamy-green miniature and almost ornamentally insignificant inflorescences, continuously flowering from July through September
  • borne on the current season's growth, and so hard pruning in the Autumn or Spring will not eliminate floral buds (and resulting fruits) for the following season

• Fruits
  • small, globular, and in clusters, with their color a continuous transition from green to chartreuse to lavender to porcelain blue, often with dots on the ripened fruits to give a slightly speckled appearance
  • often all colors are present on the same vine in September and October due to continuous Summer flowering
  • birds and squirrels quickly devour many of the ripening fruits, and the remaining fruits that abscise release seeds that readily germinate the next year, often yielding a self-sown colony of small vines around the parent vine

• Twigs
  • stems are thin, green, and slightly zig-zag the first year, becoming brown, semi-woody, and somewhat exfoliating by the second year
  • stems climb not by twining, but rather by tendrils twisting around a supportive structure such as a tree branch, wire, or nail
  • stems may also run along the ground, over logs and rocks, and entangle upon other stems, making them very hard or impossible to separate

• Trunk
  • not applicable, as this species does not achieve the proportions of many other members of the Grape Family

• ID Summary
  • simple leaves occur with a wide range of variability in the deepness of the sinuses and cutleaf character, and may also be variegated, on slightly zig-zag first year thin stems, with the stems developing an exfoliating and semi-woody character with age
  • miniature creamy inflorescences are ornamentally insignificant, occuring from Summer until frost, but produce round berries that mature to porcelain blue or lavendar, with speckles, and are readily consumed by wildlife, or self-sow to form a colony of daughter vines around the parent vine if not removed

• Function
  • vine for climbing or trailing over a structural cover or support (climbing up shrubs, trees, or wire-covered wooden or metallic structures, or trailing over rockery or low fences)

• Texture
  • medium texture in leaf and when bare
  • thick density in leaf and average density when bare

• Assets
  • lavender to porcelain-blue fruits in late Summer and Autumn
  • variegated cutleaf forms are available for their finer texture, attractive foliage, and slightly less aggressive growth
  • can be pruned back very hard during the dormant season, as flowers and fruits are borne on the current season's growth
  • fruits attract birds and squirrels

• Liabilities
  • Japanese beetles may essentially defoliate the plant in mid-Summer
  • tendrils need wire, snow fencing, or woody plant stems for climbing, or else constant tie-up maintenance is needed (as the vine stems will not themselves climb up a structure, but rather the tendrils will entwine around a supportive structure, as is typical of members of the Grape Family)
  • self-sows to form a colony of weedy vines

• Habitat
  • zones 5 to 8
  • native to the Orient

• Alternates
  • vines with variegated foliage (Actinidia kolomikta)
  • vines with ornamental fruits (Celastrus scandens [female], Dolichos lablab [annual])

• Variants
  • Ampelopsis brevipedunculata 'Elegans' - cutleaf and variegated cultivar that is now the standard form available; its variegation may revert to green cutleaf foliage on some stems with age, and these stems should be immediately pruned away before they take over

• Translation
  • Ampelopsis translates as "resembling a vine".
  • brevipedunculata translates as "short peduncle", referring to the short stalk that the fruits are attached to.

• Purpose
  • Porcelain Berry is a vine noted for its colorful Autumn fruits, attractive foliage, and rapid rambling establishment.

• Summary
  • Ampelopsis brevipedunculata is a clinging or trailing vine known for its attractive foliage, rapid establishment, and lavender to porcelain-blue fruits, but it should be used with discretion due to its aggressive growth and self-sowing character.