Ivy (Japanese ivy) - Parthenocissus tricuspidata; Japanese ivy

Japanese: ツタ(蔦) - ツタ（英語表記）Parthenocissus tricuspidata; Japanese ivy

A deciduous climbing shrub of the Vitaceae family. It is found in Japan, the Korean peninsula, and China, and grows naturally on rock walls and mountain forests, but is also cultivated by attaching it to stone walls and walls of houses. Tendrils grow opposite the leaves, and the tips of the tendrils become circular suckers that attach to other objects. The leaves are ovate with long petioles, usually simple, but often have three lobes or three-lobed compound leaves. There is a joint at the top of the petiole, and when the leaves fall, the leaf pieces fall first, followed by the petiole. The flowers bloom in summer, forming conical cymes at the tips of short branches and bearing small yellow-green bisexual flowers. The fruit is a berry, spherical, about 5 mm in diameter, ripens to a black-purple color, but is inedible. During the Heian period, the juice extracted from the trunk was used as a sweetener, so it was called Amazura or Amazuru, and it is also called Natsutsuta because it is deciduous. Another species, American Creeper, native to North America, has compound leaves consisting of five leaflets and is also commonly cultivated in Japan.

Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia About Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia Information

Japanese:

ブドウ科の落葉つる性低木。日本，朝鮮半島および中国に分布し，岩壁や山林などに自生するが，人家の石垣や壁にはわせて栽植される。葉と対生して巻きひげが生じ，巻きひげの先端は円形の吸盤になり他物に吸着する。葉は卵形で長い葉柄をもち，普通単葉で，しばしば3裂あるいは3出複葉など変化が多い。葉柄上部に関節があり，落葉の際にはまず葉片が落ち，次いで葉柄が落ちる。花は夏に咲き，短枝の先端に円錐状集散花序をなして黄緑色の両性の小花をつける。果実は液果で径 5mmほどの球形，黒紫色に熟するが食べられない。平安時代の頃，幹からとった液を甘味料としたのでアマヅラまたはアマヅルといい，また落葉性のためナツヅタともいう。北アメリカ原産の別種アメリカヅタは葉が5小葉から成る複葉で，日本でもよく栽培される。

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