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Parthenocissus quinquefolia, commonly known as Virginia creeper, woodbine, five-leaved ivy, or five-finger, is a species of flowering plant vine in the grape family Vitaceae.
The species is native plant to eastern and central North America, with its range extending from south-eastern Canada and the eastern United States, west to Manitoba and Utah, and as far south as eastern Mexico and Guatemala. It has been introduced globally and is considered an invasive species to varying degrees in the European Union, the United Kingdom, China, Australia, and Cuba.
The name Virginia creeper, referring to both the plant's "virgin" epithet and to part of its native range in the U.S. state of Virginia, is also used for the whole genus Parthenocissus, as well as for other species within the genus.
This plant is also known as woodbine in North America, although the term can refer to other plant species. Other names, such as five-leaved ivy and five-finger, refer to the leaves' characteristic palmately compound structure.
Parthenocissus quinquefolia has long been familiar to indigenous peoples in the Americas. In the Mohawk language, the plant is called kontiráthens. In the Ojibwe language, it is called mnidoo-biimaakwad bebaamooded. The French, who would have encountered the plant by the seventeenth century, gave it the name vigne vierge ("virgin vine").
Parthenocissus quinquefolia is not closely related to the true ivy (genus Hedera), but instead to other members of the Vitaceae family, including the Vitis.
It is sometimes mistaken for Toxicodendron radicans (poison ivy), despite having five leaflets (poison ivy has three). While the leaves of P. quinquefolia do not produce urushiol, the sap within the leaves and stem contains raphides (needle-shaped crystals of calcium oxalate) which can puncture the skin causing irritation and blisters in sensitive people.
The leaves sometimes turn a decorative bright red in the fall.
It is frequently seen covering telephone poles or trees. It may kill other plants it covers by shading its support and thus limiting the supporting plants' ability to photosynthesis. With its aggressive growth, it can overburden slower-growing understory trees with its weight, damaging them. Its ability to propagate via its extensive root system makes it difficult to eradicate.
Parthenocissus quinquefolia can be used as a shading vine for buildings on masonry walls. Because the vine, like its relative P. tricuspidata (Boston ivy), adheres to the surface by disks rather than penetrating roots, it does not harm the masonry but will keep a building cooler by shading the wall surface during the summer. As with ivy, ripping the plant from the wall will leave the adhesive disks behind. If the plant clings to fragile surfaces it can first be killed by severing the vine from the root. The adhesive pads will then eventually deteriorate and release their grip.
The plant should be trimmed regularly to keep it from growing into areas where it is not wanted. If allowed to penetrate into the wall of a frame house, it will grow upward within the wall until it finds a place to emerge.
In the United Kingdom, Parthenocissus quinquefolia is listed on Schedule 9 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 as an invasive non-native species. While this does not prevent it from being sold in the UK, or from being grown in gardens, the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) encourages those who grow it to take great care with managing it and with disposing of unwanted material. The RHS also encourages gardeners to find alternative plants to grow to those listed on Schedule 9.
Parthenocissus quinquefolia is listed as an environmental weed in Australia. It is also listed as an invasive species in several countries in Europe, China, and Cuba. In 2024, the plant (along with the closely related P. inserta) was listed as an invasive alien in Switzerland, which banned its sale, gifting, renting, and import.
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