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cultivated grape, European grape, grape of commerce, wine grape

grape family

Habit Plants sprawling to moderately high climbing, sparsely branched.
Branches

bark exfoliating in shreds or plates;

nodal diaphragms 3–5 mm thick;

branchlets terete to slightly angled, pubescent, sometimes glabrescent, growing tips not enveloped by unfolding leaves;

tendrils along length of branchlets, persistent, tendrils (or inflorescences) at only 2 consecutive nodes;

nodes not red-banded.

Leaves

stipules usually more than 3.5 mm;

petiole ± equaling blade;

blade cordate-ovate to cordate-orbiculate, 12–20 cm, usually 3-shouldered to 3–5-lobed, sometimes deeply so, apex acute to short acuminate, abaxial surface not glaucous, sparsely pubescent to glabrate, visible through hairs, adaxial surface usually glabrous.

alternate, simple or palmately or pinnately compound;

stipules present;

petiole present;

blade often palmately lobed, margins dentate, serrate, or crenate;

venation palmate or pinnate.

Inflorescences

10–20 cm.

bisexual or functionally unisexual, axillary or terminal and appearing leaf-opposed, cymes or thryses [spikes].

Flowers

bisexual.

bisexual or unisexual;

perianth and androecium hypogynous;

hypanthium absent;

sepals 4–5(–9), connate most or all of length;

petals (3–)4–5(–9), distinct (connate distally, forming calyptra, in Vitis) [connate basally], valvate, free;

nectary intrastaminal;

stamens (3–)4–5(–9), opposite petals, distinct;

anthers dehiscing by longitudinal slits;

staminodes present in functionally pistillate flowers;

pistil 1, 2[–3]-carpellate, ovary superior, 2[–3]-locular, placentation axile, sometimes appearing parietal;

ovules 2 per locule, apotropous or anatropous;

style 1;

stigma 1 [4].

Fruits

berries.

Berries

usually reddish purple to nearly black, sometimes yellow-green, ± glaucous, oblong to ellipsoid, 8–25 mm diam., skin adhering to pulp;

lenticels absent.

Seeds

1–4 per fruit.

Vines

or lianas, occasionally shrubby [trees], synoecious, dioecious, or polygamomonoecious; commonly with multicellular, stalked, caducous, spheric structures (pearl glands);

tendrils usually present, rarely absent.

2n

= 38, 76.

Vitis vinifera

Vitaceae

Phenology Flowering Apr–Jun; fruiting Jul–Sep.
Habitat Riparian areas, disturbed sites.
Elevation 0–1200 m. (0–3900 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; ID; MA; NH; NY; OR; PA; WA; BC; Europe [Introduced in North America]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
North America; Mexico; Central America; South America; West Indies; Eurasia; Africa; Indian Ocean Islands; Pacific Islands; Australia; primarily tropical and subtropical with a few genera in warm temperate to temperate regions
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Vitis vinifera and cultivars formed by hybridization between it and native North American species or through selection are cultivated in Europe, many parts of the United States and southern Canada, and parts of Central and South America, Africa, Asia, and Australia; these have been reported persisting from cultivation (for example, in California, Utah, and Virginia) and occasionally escaping. Some specimens keying here may represent naturally occurring hybrids between native species and V. vinifera or its hybrid cultivars.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Genera 15, species ca. 900 (6 genera, 30 species in the flora).

In the past decade, considerable effort has been made to reconstruct the phylogeny of Vitaceae (M. Rossetto et al. 2001, 2002; M. J. Ingrouille et al. 2002; A. Soejima and Wen J. 2006; Wen et al. 2007; Ren H. et al. 2011; A. Trias-Blasi et al. 2012; Lu L. M. et al. 2013; Wen et al. 2013b; Zhang N. et al. 2015). These analyses have generally supported five major clades within Vitaceae: the Ampelopsis clade, the Ampelocissus-Vitis clade, the Parthenocissus-Yua clade, the core Cissus clade, and the Cayratia-Cyphostemma-Tetrastigma clade.

Placentation type and ovary locule number in Vitaceae have been interpreted in different ways. Most authors state that the gynoecium is bilocular and the placentation type is axile (for example, J. E. Planchon 1887; P. K. Endress 2010), but others report the gynoecium as unilocular and refer to the placentation type as parietal (V. Puri 1952; N. C. Nair and K. V. Mani 1960). Recent anatomical studies confirm that the ovary in Vitaceae is usually bilocular [occasionally trilocular in Cayratia, or unilocular in some species of Cyphostemma (Planchon) Alston, such as Cyphostemma sandersonii (Harvey) Descoings], and that the placentation is axile, although it may sometimes appear parietal (S. M. Ickert-Bond et al. 2014).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Key
1. Leaves 2–3-pinnately compound.
Nekemias
1. Leaves simple or palmately compound.
→ 2
2. Pith brown; petals connate distally, forming calyptra; bark exfoliating (adherent in Vitis rotundifolia).
Vitis
2. Pith white; petals distinct; bark adherent.
→ 3
3. Petals 4; stamens 4.
→ 4
4. Inflorescences leaf-opposed; seeds 1(–4) per fruit.
Cissus
4. Inflorescences axillary; seeds 2–4 per fruit.
Causonis
3. Petals 5; stamens 5.
→ 5
5. Tendrils 2-branched; nectaries cup-shaped, adnate proximally to base of ovary, free distally; styles elongate, cylindric.
Ampelopsis
5. Tendrils 3–12-branched; nectaries annular, adnate to base of ovary, or absent; styles short, conic.
Parthenocissus
Source FNA vol. 12, p. 8. FNA vol. 12, p. 3. Authors: Michael O. Moore†, Jun Wen.
Parent taxa Vitaceae > Vitis > subg. Vitis
Sibling taxa
V. acerifolia, V. aestivalis, V. arizonica, V. californica, V. cinerea, V. girdiana, V. labrusca, V. monticola, V. mustangensis, V. palmata, V. riparia, V. rotundifolia, V. rupestris, V. shuttleworthii, V. vulpina, V. ×champinii, V. ×doaniana, V. ×novae-angliae
Subordinate taxa
Ampelopsis, Causonis, Cissus, Nekemias, Parthenocissus, Vitis
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 202. (1753) Jussieu
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