Thickets, swamps, and upland deciduous forests, often festooning trees in swamp forests and floodplains. Rare and mostly along larger rivers northwards (or perhaps some records spread from cultivation). 

The undersides of the leaflets, at least on the main veins, and the petioles are usually ± puberulent in our specimens, although rarely they are completely glabrous. The fruit is not reported to have more than 3 seeds.

A strong climber, besides holding the young shoots to tree trunks with the characteristic adhesive disks at the end of the tendrils, this is the only other native species besides poison ivy (Toxicodendron radicans) that will adhere to tree trunks using short aerial roots formed along older vines. These aerial roots are much thicker than those of poison ivy, and never form the dense furry covering of hair-like roots over the stem often seen in poison ivy. Rapidly growing climbing shoots may have small leaves with only three leaflets; such shoots are not found in P. inserta.

Because it can climb walls, this is a preferred species for cultivation, especially in areas too cold for Hedera or even Parthenocissus tricuspidata, and some records northwards may be escapes from cultivation.