This section is from the book "Harper's Guide To Wild Flowers", by Caroline A. Creevey. Also available from Amazon: Harper's Guide To Wild Flowers.
No petals, but purple sepals, 1 inch long, thick, leathery, making a bell-shape flower with recurved tips. Leaves, pinnate, consisting of 3 to 7 leaflets. The upper leaves may be entire. Styles, brownish, very plumose, 1 inch long. May to July.
A climbing plant reaching 10 feet in length, found in rich soil from Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania to Georgia. Found 4,000 feet high in Virginia.
 
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