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Cocculus carolinus (L.)DC.
Carolina Coralbead
Carolina Snailseed
Redberry Moonseed
Florida native
An occasional vine of moist hammocks in the panhandle and north peninsula south to Orange County. The range extends throughout the southeast, west into Texas to Kansas, north into Illinois and Indiana and northeast to Virginia.
This is a high-climbing deciduous vine with alternate leaves. The leaves are shallowly lobed to heart shaped. The petioles are about as long as the leaf blades for a total length of up to 14cm (5-1/2 in.). The leaves often have a short spine at the apex. Elongated clusters of flowers up to 13cm (~5 in.) long appear from the leaf axils in summer. Individual flowers have three series of three greenish-white sepals each which completely surround the 5 to 6 yellow petals. The fruit also appears in clusters and at maturity is a bright red drupe 6-8mm (~1/4 in.) in diameter.
Cocculus carolinus is a member of the Menispermaceae - Moonseed family.
Atlas of Florida Vascular Plants (Institute for Systemic Botany) profile for this species
iNaturalist profile for this species
USDA Plant Profile for this species
Date record last modified: Jun 14, 2023
