had this to say...:
: : Could someone tell me what vine this is? I'm assuming it is in the
: : Cucurbitaceae. It's scrambling around an old stone wall in West Virginia.
: : The flowers had fallen off and I neglected to get some good close-ups - but
: : thought the plant was probably distinctive enough to get an ID for it. If
: : not I can go back and find some other flowers and try to get a good
: : close-up.
: :
: : http://bilton.us/vine1.jpg
: : http://bilton.us/vine2.jpg

: Here are a couple of further pictures:

: http://bilton.us/vine3.jpg
: http://bilton.us/vine4.jpg

I have had the vine identified by Art Tucker at DSU after emailing my
Botanical Society of Washington list. After he provided the identification
of Thladiantha dubia, I found that the first hit in Google for that plant
is: http://www.libraries.wvu.edu/dandridge/g37.html. The woman who wrote
the article back in 1896 lived on the same property where I had found the
vine growing. The person who had shown me the vine and initially asked me
about it said that this year was the first time she had seen it. There was
some bush hogging done along the wall and lane and she thought that maybe
this had brought some old seed or parts of tubers to near the surface.
Given what she said about it, namely that the year after she had planted it
and then had tried to get rid of it that she found at least 20 plants, it's
amazing the whole area isn't covered with it.

I also found this paragraph about it on the web:

"A hardy herbaceous climber that I should mention rather as a warning than
a recommendation, unless you are confident of its siting, is Thladiantha
dubia. This is a member of the cucumber family, covered in yellow flowers
in September, but a real thug. Its tuberous roots explore everywhere and
make new colonies. I hate being told that such-and-such a plant is a
challenge, but this one certainly is."

--kathy at the domain fred net