Diagnostic Characteristics
The cordate leaves distinguish it from C. angustifolium (= C. palustre) and C. scoparium, which have sessile or short-petiolate, linear leaves. The distinctive corona (5-lobed, appearing 10-lobed as each lobe is divided) separates it from C. louiseae (= C. nigrum or Vincetoxicum nigrum), C. rossicum (= C. medium, Vincetoxicum medium, V. hirundinaria), and C. vincetoxicum (= Vincetoxicum hirundinaria), which have the corona with 5 inconspicuous to prominent lobes that are not themselves divided. Distinguished from Matelea spp. by flower color (maroon to yellow-green in Matelea). (Gleason and Cronquist 1991, Godfrey and Wooten 1981, Radford et al. 1968)
Habitat
Low moist woods; forest margins; thickets; alluvial thickets, woods, and swales; stream banks; riverside thickets; floodplain woods; cultivated fields; roadsides; fence rows; along railroads; disturbed areas. Often weedy. (Correll and Johnston 1970, Fernald 1950, Gleason and Cronquist 1991, Godfrey and Wooten 1981, Great Plains Flora Association 1986, Johnson 1983, Radford et al. 1968, Steyermark 1963) Soils: "silty clay or sand" (Correll and Johnson 1970); sandy, clayey, or rocky calcareous soils" (Great Plains Flora Association 1986).
Ecology
Often found in disturbed areas (see habitat description).