The Dawes Arboretum

Common name: Alabama supplejack, rattan-vine

Family: Rhamnaceae (buckthorn family)

Distribution: s.e. United States to Central America

Hardiness: USDA Zone 5

Life form: Vine/Liana

Comments: A twining, high-climbing, deciduous woody vine. Stems are smooth, reddish to greenish gray in color and often found twining around trees in a tight spiral or forming a dense tangle over shrubs. Small greenish white flowers appear in late spring followed by blue drupe fruit that ripens in fall. Great plant for open fencerow or embankment groundcover.