Endless leisure. So I sometimes go out for a walk on the streets of the American city of Pittsburgh. The whole city is hilly. So it is a bit difficult to climb uphill. However, I forget that trouble when I see many flowers and fruit trees in the wild bushes along Squirrel Hill. No one planted them, the trees grew by themselves.
I hardly know any trees. If it pleases the eyes, I stand near those trees and try to see their appearance and character. Among the various trees, a tree suddenly appeared that looked like a grape vine, the leaves were also like grapes. The fruits are clustered like grapes; But the fruits are not grapes, they look like porcelain fruits, much smaller than grapes, more like the grain of a twig.
Its color is strange. The unripe fruits are whitish, the vines are knotted in numerous slender pods. The color of the ripening fruits is bluish, later purple and finally dark purple. Fruits of different colors in the same bundle. The fruits are round, the skin is smooth, the skin has faint black dots, which cannot be seen unless you look closely. Long slender creepers, entwined and twisted around clinging to other trees. As if that is his kingdom, he is the king of that kingdom, others are subjects. They are lying on the slopes of the mountain with their heads bowed to give him shelter. It doesn’t matter if those sheltering trees are small, they spread their branches and leaves like a blanket over their necks and provide dense shade. Those thickets become shelters for many birds, animals and insects. Many mammals and birds eat its fruits and spread the seeds far and wide. As a result, there is no difficulty in raising the family of this tree. This tree is usually found growing wild on the edge of the forest, at the foot of the hill, on the edge of the water body. As winter sets in in America, the fruits begin to ripen, followed by the fall of the leaves. When winter comes, the leaves fall completely and the tree becomes stunted. The vines are hardy like wood and survive cold and frost. Then the leaves blossom again in the spring, and those plants start flowering and fruiting in July or mid-summer. Fruits in August-September. Many tiny greenish-white flowers bloom in small clusters. The fruit is about six inches in size. The English name of this lovely tree is Amur Peppervine. Another name given to this fruit is porcelain berry. Botanical name of this plant is Ampelopsis brevipedunculata and family Vitaceae. That is, the tree belongs to the grape family, a kind of wild grape, the fruit cannot be eaten. The first part of its generic name is from the Greek words ampelos meaning creeper and opsis meaning double, the last part meaning flower bud. The leaves and fruits are grape-like. Amur peppervine is a perennial creeping plant. The vine grows up to six meters tall. From the nodes of the vine grow leaves and stems. It has another characteristic difference with grapes. Vines cling to other supports or trees with the help of their attraction. This tree also has charm. But the attraction of the gardener is not branching, its attraction is branching. The nodules show many footlike stomata or lenticels. The leaves are grape-like, heart-shaped and serrated at the edges. The edges of some leaves are deeply grooved. The leaves usually have three deep grooves, are green or pale green in color. But the leaves are smaller than grape leaves. Although the plant is native to China and Japan, it is now native to America. Americans brought it from those countries to plant as an ornamental tree in the 1870s; But the situation is now such that it no longer has to be imposed on them. It has spread like an invasive weed in mountains, forests and cities. For those who need to mulch their garden, this plant is excellent.
Once planted, it lives there for many years and quickly covers those unsightly places with foliage. Whether on sand or rocky ground—this wild vine grows unconcerned everywhere.
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