Read about Vitaceae in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture
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Vitaceae (from the genus Vitis, the classical name). Grape Family. Fig. 36. Mostly climbing shrubs with tendrils, seldom upright shrubs or small trees: leaves alternate or opposite, very diverse: flowers bisexual, or unisexual, small, numerous, regular; sepals 4-5, rarely 3-7, minute or obsolete; petals 4-5, rarely 3-7, valvate, separate (gamopetalous in Leea); stamens 4-5, rarely 3-7, opposite the petals, somewhat perigynous; disk evident, annular or of separate lobes; ovary superior, 2-, rarely 3-6-, celled, with 2, or rarely 1, ovule in each cell; style 1 or 0; stigma capitate or peltate: fruit a berry; seeds albuminous. The 11 genera and about 450 species are mostly of tropical and subtropical distribution. Fourteen species reach the northeastern United States. The largest genus is Cissus with 250 species. Some fossil forms are known. The Vitaceae are closely related to the Rhamnaceae. The climbing habit, the few stamens opposite the petals, the 2-carpelled berry, and the capitate stigma are distinctive. The petals in Vitis remain connate at the tip as in the bud, but separate from each other at the base, and fall off as a cap. The tendrils of the Vitaceae are borne at the nodes and opposite the leaves. There has been much discussion as to whether the tendrils are apical or lateral, i.e., whether the plant is sympodial or monopodial. The tips of the tendrils are in some species expanded into disk-like holdfasts. The species of Cissus are mainly desert plants. They are often cactus-like, with fleshy, angled, jointed, or terete stems; or have tubers or tuberous bases. The most important economic plant in the family is the grape (Vitis), which has been cultivated since early times. V. vinifera is the wine grape of Europe and southern California, and has given rise to our greenhouse grapes; not hardy. V. Labrusca is one of the parents of most of our hardy grapes. V. vulpina and V. cordifolia are frost or fox grapes. Several species of Vitis are grown for ornamental purposes only. Raisins are the dried fruit of certain species of Vitis, mostly V. vinifera. Virginia creeper or woodbine (Parthenocissus [Ampelopsis] quinquefolia) and Boston ivy or Japanese ivy (P. tricuspidata) are ornamental. A few genera are in cultivation in America: Ampelopsis; Parthenocissus or Psedera; Cissus (Kangaroo Vine); and Vitis.
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 Vitis vinifera, wine grapes | ||||||||||
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| *Acareosperma |
Vitaceae are a family of dicotyledonous flowering plants including the grape and Virginia creeper. The family name is derived from the genus Vitis. The name sometimes appears as Vitidaceae, but Vitaceae is a conserved name and therefore has priority over both Vitidaceae and another name sometimes found in the older literature, Ampelidaceae.
The relationships of Vitaceae are unclear and the family does not appear to have any close relatives. In the Cronquist system, the family was placed near the family Rhamnaceae in order Rhamnales. The family was placed in the Rosid clade, but not classified in an order, by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (APG). The Angiosperm Phylogeny Web places Vitaceae in its own order, Vitales. Recent phylogenetic analyses support Vitaceae as the sister-group to all other rosids (Jansen et al. 2006).
Most Vitis species have 38 chromosomes (n=19), but 40 (n=20) in subgenus Muscadinia, while Ampelocissus, Parthenocissus, and Ampelopsis also have 40 chromosomes (n=20) and Cissus has 24 chromosomes (n=12).
The family is economically important as grapes (Vitis species) are an important fruit crop and, when fermented, produce wine.
Species of the genus Tetrastigma serve as hosts to parasitic plants in the family Rafflesiaceae.
Leea, sometimes classified in its own family, Leeaceae, is included in Vitaceae by the APG and the Angiosperm Phylogeny Web.
References and external links
- R. K. Jansen, C. Kaittanis, S. B. Lee, C. Saski, J. Tomkins, A. J. Alverson and H. Daniell. 2006. Phylogenetic analyses of Vitis (Vitaceae) based on complete chloroplast genome sequences: effects of taxon sampling and phylogenetic methods on resolving relationships among rosids. BMC Evolutionary Biology 6: 32 [published online, 14 pp.].