My 3 year old grandson visits every other weekend and over his sandbox is a plant, I don't think it's a tree, more like a woody vine, but it is up about 12-15 feet. It's now dropping little blue berries. I'm a little concerned that they are toxic...he once tried to eat a berry from a pokeweed...PANIC! Anyway, it's a woody, twisty vine with heart shaped leaves, about 4-5" big. There are only berries on the part that is in the sun. I'm attaching the best pictures I could get of it. Any help I can get would be very appreciated! The first pic is a close up of the berries, the next a close up of the leaves, and the third a pic of the vine (the diagonal one). Sorry they're not better. BTW, I'm in northeastern New Jersey.
Looks like wild grapes. On a recent trip to NY and Quebec, I was amazed by the amount of grape vine I saw climbing over the tree canopies. There are a few species native to the the area and Vitis vinifera also grows wild there now too, but that species does not seem to be in NJ. http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=VITIS
Thanks Eric. I'm glad they are not toxic. I' just did some reading on wild grapes and the general consensus seems to be to get rid of it. The vines are all over my yard, the berries only over the roof in the sun. I have had a problem with trees falling and the vines catching them, so they just seem to hang forever.
I grew up in Ohio, the wild vines rarely produce much in the way of tasty fruit and they can smother trees in the landscape. I have fond memories of swinging from the vines that hung from high up in the trees in our woods though.
