Balloonvine

Cardiospermum halicacabrum L.

Sapindaceae  (Soapberry Family)

▲ seedling

▲▼  young plants

young plant▲

▲ flowering plant

▲▼ flowers

vining growth habit▲▼

 

flowers & fruit▲

fruit▲▼

Balloonvine, Love-in-a-Puff:

·         summer annual vine (in U.S., tender perennial where it originated in South America)

·         has trifoliate leaves; leaflets  light-green, hairy, lobed

·         vine grows 6-10’ long and has panicles of tiny white flowers, followed by green, sac-like fruit with single seed inside; fruit turns brown with maturity

·         is in the Soapberry Family (Sapindaceae)

·         found more common in southern part of Midwest in soybean, cotton fields and other fertile, cultivated  soils

·         has been grown as an ornamental in southern states