Climbing Hempvine

After 15 years here at MOSI, I am often astonished to find that I am still discovering species around the campus that I have not seen before. This November, I crossed the boardwalk over part of the wetlands and found a vine clinging to several dozen trees and laden with bunches of tiny white blooms. Upon closer inspection, the diminutive flowers are pinkish inside.  The leaves looked a bit like those of a morning glory, but the flowers certainly were not. I snapped a few photos and headed in to the office to check the identification books.

What I found was Climbing Hempvine (Mikania scandens), a perennial native vine that grows in wetlands, forest edges, open woodlands and roadsides. The leaves are heart shaped and taper sharply to a point at the tip. The flowers bloom in dense clusters about 1 to 3 inches in width and the flowers are quite small individually. This vine was rater laden with pollinators, so sliding in to get a closeup was an exciting experience as I didn't wish to disturb any busy bees.

The vine is a bit weedy and can be quite aggressive, twinging about shrubs and trees with alacrity. This vine seems to ramble everywhere it can get a foothold and had formed a large colony in the wetland. The blooms were bright and showy and the vines can grow to 15 feet in length.

 Climbing Hempvine is an occasional host for the Little Metalmark butterfly (Calephelis virginiensis) which is native to the North American southeast. We have never sighted this species on the MOSI Outside campus, but now that we know we have a host plant, we'll be keeping an eye out for these tiny beauties and their adorably hairy larva. The adult butterflies are also reported to nectar from the flowers.

What's in a Name?

The genus name Mikania honors Joseph Gottfried Mikan, an early 19th century Bohemian botanist and professor at Prague. He was the father of  and father of Johann Christian Mikan (1769 - 1844), a zoologist, entomologist and botanist who collected many plant specimens in Brazil.

The specific epithet scandens is derived from the Latin word scandere which means to climb or ascend.
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