Virginia creeper with autumn red foliage

One of the first plants to turn colors in the autumn in the northeastern United States is the Virginia creeper. The vine can grow over fifty feet high. While not really a parasite, the creeper can kill its hosts by blocking the sun and preventing photosynthesis. Although I believe these accommodating trees are green ash trees that were killed by emerald ash borers.

I photographed these fall red Virginia creepers in the Miami Woods Forest Preserve yesterday in Morton Grove, Illinois.

Virginia creeper is often confused with poison ivy. The latter vine consists of three-leaf clusters, creeper clusters have five.