''Tetrastigma'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

of plants in the grape family,

Vitaceae The Vitaceae are a family of flowering plants, with 14 genera and around 910 known species, including common plants such as Vitis, grapevines (''Vitis'' spp.) and Parthenocissus quinquefolia, Virginia creeper (''Parthenocissus quinquefolia''). Th ...

. The plants are

liana A liana is a long-Plant stem, stemmed Woody plant, woody vine that is rooted in the soil at ground level and uses trees, as well as other means of vertical support, to climb up to the Canopy (biology), canopy in search of direct sunlight. T ...

s that climb with

tendril In botany, a tendril is a specialized Plant stem, stem, leaf or Petiole (botany), petiole with a thread-like shape used by climbing plants for support and attachment, as well as cellular invasion by parasitic plants such as ''Cuscuta''. There ar ...

s and have palmately compound leaves. Plants are

dioecious Dioecy ( ; ; adj. dioecious, ) is a characteristic of certain species that have distinct unisexual individuals, each producing either male or female gametes, either directly (in animals) or indirectly (in seed plants). Dioecious reproduction is ...

, with separate male and female plants; female flowers are characterized by their four-lobed stigmas. The species are found in subtropical and tropical regions of

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

, and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, where they grow in primary rainforest,

gallery forest A gallery forest is one formed as a corridor along rivers or wetlands, projecting into landscapes that are otherwise only sparsely treed such as savannas, grasslands, or deserts. The gallery forest maintains a more temperate microclimate above th ...

and

monsoon forest Seasonal tropical forest, also known as moist deciduous, semi-evergreen seasonal, tropical mixed or monsoon forest, typically contains a range of tree species: only some of which drop some or all of their leaves during the dry season. This tropic ...

and moister

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with woody plants (trees and shrubs), or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the '' plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunli ...

. Species of this genus are notable as being the sole hosts of

parasitic plant A parasitic plant is a plant that derives some or all of its nutritional requirements from another living plant. They make up about 1% of angiosperms and are found in almost every biome. All Parasite, parasitic plants develop a specialized organ ...

s in the family

Rafflesiaceae The Rafflesiaceae are a family of rare parasitic plants comprising 36 species in 3 genera found in the tropical forests of east and southeast Asia, including ''Rafflesia arnoldii'', which has the largest flowers of all plants. The plants are e ...

, one of which, ''

Rafflesia arnoldii ''Rafflesia arnoldii'', the corpse flower, or giant padma, Its local name is Petimum Sikinlili. It is a species of flowering plant in the parasitic genus '' Rafflesia'' within the family Rafflesiaceae. It is noted for producing the largest in ...

'', produces the largest single flower in the world. ''Tetrastigma'' is the donor species for

horizontal gene transfer Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) or lateral gene transfer (LGT) is the movement of genetic material between organisms other than by the ("vertical") transmission of DNA from parent to offspring (reproduction). HGT is an important factor in the e ...

to ''

Sapria ''Sapria'' is an Asian genus of parasitic flowering plants in the family Rafflesiaceae erected by William Griffith in 1844.Griffith W (1844) ''Proc. Linn. Soc. Lond.'' 1: 216. It grows within roots of ''Vitis'' and ''Tetrastigma''. The genus is ...

'' and ''

Rafflesia ''Rafflesia'' (), or stinking corpse lily, is a genus of Parasitic plants, parasitic flowering plants in the family Rafflesiaceae. The species have enormous flowers, the buds rising from the ground or directly from the lower stems of their host p ...

'' due to multiple gene theft events. Within the Vitaceae, ''Tetrastigma'' has long been considered closely related to ''

Cayratia ''Cayratia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Vitaceae. It consists of species of vine plants, typical of the tribe Cayratieae. Some of them are used by humans, and they are found in tropical and subtropical areas of Asia, Africa, Au ...

'' and ''

Cyphostemma ''Cyphostemma'' is a flowering plant genus in the family (biology), family Vitaceae, with around 250 species distributed throughout the tropics and subtropics. These species are Caudex, caudiciform and used to belong to the genus ''Cissus''. The ...

'' and is now placed in the

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide use of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. The definition is contested, in part due to conflict ...

Cayratieae The Cayratieae is one of five tribes of vine plants that are now recognised in this subfamily Vitoideae.Wen J, Lu LM, Nie ZI, Liu XQ, Zhang N, Ickert-Bond S, Gerrath J, Manchester SR, Boggan J, Chen ZD (2018) A new phylogenetic tribal classifica ...

Fossil record

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...

seed fragment from the early

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...

of ''Tetrastigma'' sp., has been found in the

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...

part of the

Zittau Zittau (; ; ; ; ; Lusatian dialects, Upper Lusatian dialect: ''Sitte''; ) is the southeasternmost city in the Germany, German state of Saxony, and belongs to the Görlitz (district), district of Görlitz, Germany's easternmost Districts of Germ ...

Basin. ''Tetrastigma'' macrofossils have been recovered from the late

Zanclean The Zanclean is the lowest stage or earliest age on the geologic time scale of the Pliocene. It spans the time between 5.332 ± 0.005 Ma (million years ago) and 3.6 ± 0.005 Ma. It is preceded by the Messinian Age of the Miocene Epoch, and f ...

stage of

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch (geology), epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.33 to 2.58Pocapaglia Pocapaglia () is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Cuneo in the Italian region Piedmont, located about southeast of Turin and about northeast of Cuneo. As of 1-1-2017, it had a population of 3,311 and an area of .All demographics an ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

.Messian to Zanclean vegetation and climate of Northern and Central Italy by Adele Bertini & Edoardo Martinetto, Bollettino della Società Paleontologica Italiana, 47 (2), 2008, 105-121. Modena, 11 lugio 2008.

Etymology

''Tetrastigma'' is derived from Greek and means 'four stigmas', in reference to its four-lobed stigma.Gledhill, David (2008). "The Names of Plants". Cambridge University Press. (hardback), (paperback). pp 376

Species

Plants of the World Online Plants of the World Online (POWO) is an online taxonomic database published by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. History Following the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew launched Plants of the World Online i ...

Tetrastigma leucostaphylum ''Tetrastigma leucostaphylum'', the Indian chestnut vine, is a flowering plant in the family Vitaceae. It is native to Sri Lanka, India, Nepal and South East Asia. Ecology Relationship with Rafflesia In Sumatra, ''Tetrastigma leucostaphylum'' se ...

'' (Dennst.) Alston # '' Tetrastigma lincangense'' C.L.Li # '' Tetrastigma lineare'' W.T.Wang ex C.Y.Wu & C.L.Li # '' Tetrastigma littorale'' Merr. # '' Tetrastigma liukiuense'' T.Yamaz. # '' Tetrastigma loheri'' Gagnep. # '' Tetrastigma longipedunculatum'' C.L.Li # '' Tetrastigma longisepalum'' Gagnep. # '' Tetrastigma macrocorymbum'' Gagnep. ex J.Wen, Boggan & Turland # ''

Tetrastigma magnum ''Tetrastigma'' is a genus of plants in the grape family, Vitaceae. The plants are lianas that climb with tendrils and have palmately compound leaves. Plants are dioecious, with separate male and female plants; female flowers are characterized ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2981583 Vitaceae Vitaceae genera Dioecious plants