Look up native Parthenocissus.

Gynostemma pentaphyllum. It is not Parthenocissus.

That's what I thought. Maybe the 'thorn' is a tendril stub. I don't see any tendrils?

Is Gynostemma pentaphyllum hardy in zone 5? If that is what the 5 after the OPs name means.

Yes I believe it does mean zone 5 floral. I wondered about the plants hardiness there for more than 40 years too, as well as the thorn at the base of every leaf.

It's hardly in zone 7, but in zone 7 the growing season is too short for it to produce seed. It's fast growing and can be grown as an annual, but this is a 40yo perennial in zone 5, so it can't be Gynostemma. I haven't seen any reason to rule out Parthenocissus? A close up of the thorn would be nice.

Yes. Some close ups would help. As would a picture of the whole thing in situ. And an indication of whether it dies down to the ground in winter or whether it forms a permanent framework.

Holy cow! I only got a couple of these responses in my inbox and had no idea there were so many people involved. I got sort of bogged down at this site with 30 parthen...sis.

I have ruled out Bostone Ivy and Virginia Creeper, ut there are a lot more, native to Asia. http://www.plantsoftheworldonline.org/?q=Parthenocissus

I went out to take some photos, but before I post them, I need to tell you I had some of the viburnum bushes chopped down and some removed. Those would be the thick-ish trunks you see. I also had the mystery plant cut down. Not sure if they removed any, or not. Here is closeup one of the thorns, which are at the base of every leaf and nowhere else. This is new growth. Last year's growth is still narrow, but thicker and woodier. This is why I'm not sure if it's a vine or a shrub.

I'm only allowed to post one photo per post. This is what it looks like one year after being chopped down.

Gynostemma leaves have a very bitter taste. It's that bitter, cucumber skin taste x 1000. Virginia creeper leaves taste like bland leaves.

I have been trying to research if *anything* in the Vitaceae family is without tendrils, but so far everything I've seen pictures or herbarium sheets on has tendrils. This does not have tendrils and never did, even before I cut it down.

the veins are lighter.

Yes,, I am in zone 5. This gets down to -20. And colder in early 1980s!

here is one more photo. There is occasionally a double thorn. Botanically known as an armature (this plant is armed) and more specifically, a prickle. The Latin names for such things include spina, lappa, and sentis, so I might be looking for a plant with that species name.

All this I learned last night, LOL!

LOL, Jay, I think I'll hold off on tasting it for a while yet, but I am sure it's not Virginia Creeper, which I grow here, too. For one thing, the leaves are about 1/6 the size of Virginia creeper, and another, the branches are smoother and woodier.

floral UK, It is deciduous and the framework stays. Usually it growd though, up and out of the Viburnums I had there, maybe similar to the way a Lillium henryii would -- grows up through it, toward the sun, and then when it loses its viburnum trellis, it gracefully flops over.

as additional information, this lasts for 3 weeks in a vase of water, and has a lot of substance, whereas Virginia creeper only lasts one day In water, at least the terminal ends. I have never noticed it blooming or seeding.

Kalopanax?

Eleutherococcus / Acanthopanax?

Yeah, that's closer.

Wow! Thank you all for your help! I was toLD to come here a year ago to find the name, but I kept putting it off.

DARN, darn, darn! I wish I had said it reminded me of an Aralia (houseplant) when I was talking about the substance of the leaves. It could have saved some effort, I think. I believe it is an You-there-a-Coke-us. (Just to let you know I went to Plant Finder to see how to pronounce it). Probably just the plain Jane EleutherococcuS sieboldiana since it looks just like the photo on Invasives.org. But it's only invasive in New jersey, according to the map, and in 40 years, the whole thing has only got a spread of maybe 10 feet.(Indianapolis)

As I said, it makes an unbelievably good cut foliage plant If you don't mind the prickles, no pests seem to bother it, and I'm sure it has never had any flowers since the Inflorescence appears huge. Do you think I should dig it out? (Please say no!) Over the years I have had way more thuggish plants than this little darling!

Hey, Jay in Chicago ... have you ever tasted poison ivy? I've been dying to know what it tastes like!!! How about Ailanthus altissima? Got some curiosity about that, too. :-)

Yardvaark, I have never tasted poison ivy. I once had the rash so bad I ended up in the hospital. I 've never tried Ailanthus either. I could never get past its smell. I still smell it. People do eat Gynostemma for their health. They call it the immortality vine.

Actually, when I was a young kid, I may have tasted Ailanthus. Maybe that's why I have such bad memories.

Jay, sounds like we've had similar childhoods though I didn't end up in the hospital with a PI rash. That sounds bad. My cousin and I found a bunch in the woods and thought it was a great public service idea to burn it. At the end of the day we regretted bothering with it at all, and fortunately did not breathe the smoke. I recall my first smell of Ailanthus, almost making me sick. What a putrid odor! Black walnut on the other hand, with the similar compound leaf, was a delicious smelling thing, IMO. And its nuts taste the best, too.

Yardvaark, sounds like you and your cousin missed the worst of the burnt oils, and I wasn't a kid when I went to the hospital with legs that looked like bubble wrap. I was a full grown adult lol.

Ouch no matter how old!

I really appreciate this post, I didn't know there was a plant in US that looked that similar to Jiogulan (gynostemma). Glad to learn of it. And thanks for the info, abordave.

I grow a lot of gynostemma, I'm sure what you have there is not it. It is a good lookalike. And although it has 5 leaves like the most common gynostemma variety, there are some notable differences. The leaves and stems just don't look enough like gynostemma to me. There are many varieties of gynostemma (3 to 9 leaves, bitter, sweet) but no gynostemma has thorns, and it grows totally as a crawling vine, with no shrub or upright growth tendencies. And it grows fast like kudzu, up to 2 1/2 inches a day for older plants.

Hi, I'm just curious. I've heard other reports from North Carolina that Gynostemma doesn't have enough growing season time there to produce viable fruit. Is that the case with you too? I tried growing a plant this year as an annual, thinking if it turned out to fantastic, I could overwinter cuttings. The plant refused to be a vine and never took off. The leaves were bitter, but do they taste sweet when dried for tea? I think Virginia creeper looks a lot like Gynostemma too, in a creepy way! but don't tell er.

Hi Jay. Im in southern central part of NC, just a few miles from SC. In my area, Jiaogulan grows well, and I get a lot of berries which I only harvest for seeds (Picked a lot today). You need male and female vines to produce berries. The grower I got my starter plants says his rarely fruits, but he is in western NC mountains. So perhaps it needs the humidity that I get here to produce a lot of berries. Most jiaogulan plants sold seem to be the bitter variety, but there are sweet varieties which make the best tea. My jiaogulan is not bitter, thankfully. The 1st year plants don't grow very fast or long, but as the roots mature, vine growth picks up good. Yes, I think young virginia creeper vines looks a little like jiaogulan.

I found out about jiaogulan from a mountain gardens video. I should have the gotten the seeds and plant from them.

I highly recommend Mountain Gardens. Joe Hollis, of Mountain Gardens, is the one who introduced Jiaogulan to North America I believe. And he is the one who I got my jiaogulan plants from. He is very knowledgeable, and his herb videos are informative gems.

Yes, I love that place and Joe's videos.

https://youtu.be/S5DwcnZ8XY

Plant in question could likely be Eleutherococcos nodiflorus. gracilistylus.