Vine · Vitaceae
Peppervine
Nekemias arborea
Peppervine is recorded as native to 18 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 503 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Peppervine at a glance
- Native in
- 503 counties, across 18 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 6a PLANTS minimum temperature −13°F
- Mature height
- 1 in PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Tolerates shade Medium water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 6a. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −13°F; zone 6a winters bottom out at −10°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Peppervine is recorded as native to 18 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 503 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 503 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 43 counties
- Arkansas 61 counties
- District of Columbia 1 county
- Florida 56 counties
- Georgia 27 counties
- Illinois 6 counties
- Kentucky 22 counties
- Louisiana 63 counties
- Mississippi 46 counties
- Missouri 16 counties
- North Carolina 23 counties
- Ohio 2 counties
- Oklahoma 30 counties
- South Carolina 24 counties
- Tennessee 22 counties
- Texas 45 counties
- Virginia 13 counties
- West Virginia 3 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Shrub, Vine
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 1 in
- Growth rate
- Rapid
- Growth form
- Multiple Stem
- Shape
- Climbing
- Lifespan
- Moderate
- Active growth period
- Summer
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Tolerant (tolerates shade)
- Moisture use
- Medium water use
- Drought tolerance
- Medium
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- Low
- Precipitation range
- 35 to 60 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse, medium and fine
- pH range
- 4 to 8
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Low
- Salinity tolerance
- None
- Fertility requirement
- Medium
- Minimum root depth
- 6 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −13°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 6a and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 110
- Fire tolerance
- Medium
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Green
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Late Spring
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Black
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- Routinely Available
- Family
- Vitaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- NEAR5
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Nekemias arborea (PLANTS symbol NEAR5).
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources