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Q. Who is Mr. Smarty Plants?

A: There are those who suspect Wildflower Center volunteers are the culpable and capable culprits. Yet, others think staff members play some, albeit small, role. You can torture us with your plant questions, but we will never reveal the Green Guru's secret identity.

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Ask Mr. Smarty Plants is a free service provided by the staff and volunteers at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.

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Monday - July 28, 2014

From: Henderson, TN
Region: Southeast
Topic: Plant Identification, Vines
Title: Identification of vine with feathery leaves and deep pink flowers
Answered by: Nan Hampton

QUESTION:

I have growing up my porch what appears to be a vine with feathery leaves and small deep pink flowers. There is no water sources near by. Can you tell me what it is?

ANSWER:

You can do a COMBINATION SEARCH in our Native Plant Database and choose "Tennessee" from Select State or Province and "Vine" from Habit (general appearance).  This will give you a list 85 native vines that occur in Tennessee.  Most of the species have photos of the vines.   You can further limit the list by using the NARROW YOUR SEARCH option in the sidebar and choosing "Pink" and "Red" from BLOOM COLOR.  This narrows the list to 24.  When I did the search, I didn't see any vines that fit your description.   However, you should try the search yourself to see if I missed something.

This sounds like it could be the non-native Ipomoea quamoclit (Cypress vine), native to Mexico and Central America.  It is shown as occurring in Tennessee on the USDA Plants Database distribution map.

If you don't find your vine in the Tennessee native vines or it isn't the non-native cypress vine, please visit our Plant Identification page where you find links to several plant identification forums that will accept photos of plants for identification.

 

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