The Vitaceae are a family of

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

s, with 14 genera and around 910 known species, including common plants such as grapevines (''Vitis'' spp.) and Virginia creeper (''Parthenocissus quinquefolia''). The family name is derived from the genus ''

Vitis ''Vitis'' (grapevine) is a genus of 81 accepted species of vining plants in the flowering plant family Vitaceae. The genus consists of species predominantly from the Northern Hemisphere. It is economically important as the source of grapes, bot ...

''. Most ''Vitis'' species have 38 chromosomes (n=19), but 40 (n=20) in subgenus '' Muscadinia'', while '' Ampelocissus'', ''

Parthenocissus ''Parthenocissus'' , is a genus of tendril vine, climbing plants in the grape family (biology), family, Vitaceae. It contains about 12 species native plant, native to the Himalaya, eastern Asia and North America. Several are grown for ornamental ...

'', and '' Ampelopsis'' also have 40 chromosomes (n=20) and ''

Cissus ''Cissus'' is a genus of approximately 350 species of lianas (Woody plant, woody vines) in the grape family (Vitaceae). They have a cosmopolitan distribution, though the majority are to be found in the tropics. Decription Extrafloral nectaries ...

'' has 24 chromosomes (n=12). The family is economically important as the

berries A berry is a small, pulpy, and often edible fruit. Typically, berries are juicy, rounded, brightly colored, sweet, sour or tart, and do not have a stone fruit, stone or pit (fruit), pit although many wikt:pip#Etymology 2, pips or seeds may be p ...

of ''Vitis'' species, commonly known as

grape A grape is a fruit, botanically a berry, of the deciduous woody vines of the flowering plant genus ''Vitis''. Grapes are a non- climacteric type of fruit, generally occurring in clusters. The cultivation of grapes began approximately 8,0 ...

s, are an important fruit crop and, when fermented, produce

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink made from Fermentation in winemaking, fermented fruit. Yeast in winemaking, Yeast consumes the sugar in the fruit and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Wine is most often made f ...

. Species of the genus ''

Tetrastigma ''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 characterize ...

'' serve as hosts to

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.

Taxonomy

The name sometimes appears as Vitidaceae, but Vitaceae is a

conserved name A conserved name or ''nomen conservandum'' (plural ''nomina conservanda'', abbreviated as ''nom. cons.'') is a scientific name that has specific nomenclatural protection. That is, the name is retained, even though it violates one or more rules wh ...

and therefore has priority over both Vitidaceae and another name sometimes found in the older literature, Ampelidaceae. In the APG III system (2009) onwards, the family is placed in its own order, Vitales.

Molecular phylogenetic Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

studies place the Vitales as the most basal clade in the rosids. In the Cronquist system, the family was placed near the family

Rhamnaceae The Rhamnaceae are a large Family (biology), family of flowering plants, mostly trees, shrubs, and some vines, commonly called the buckthorn family. Rhamnaceae is included in the order Rosales. The family contains about 55 genera and 950 specie ...

in order Rhamnales. ''

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 ...

'' currently includes the following genera, placed in two subfamilies:

Leeoideae

* ''

Leea ''Leea'' (Tagalog language, Tagalog: ''Talyantan'') is a genus of plants in the family Vitaceae, subfamily Leeoideae, that are native to parts of central Africa, tropical Asia, Australia and Melanesia. It was previously placed in its own family, ...

'' D.Royen: previously placed in its own

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...

family, Leeaceae, was included in Vitaceae by APG IV (2016) and the

Angiosperm Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed within a fruit ...

Phylogeny Website.

Vitoideae

Five tribes are now recognised in this subfamily: ;Ampelopsideae Ampelopsis glandulosa var

* '' Ampelopsis'' A.Rich. ex Michx. (pepper-vines) * ''

Clematicissus ''Clematicissus'' is a genus of flowering plants in the 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 Partheno ...

'' Planch. * '' Nekemias'' Raf. * '' Rhoicissus'' Planch. ; Cayratieae Tetrastigma leucostaphylum 09

* '' Acareosperma'' Gagnep. * '' Afrocayratia'' * '' Causonis'' Raf. * '' Cayratia'' Juss. * '' Cyphostemma'' (Planch.) Alston * '' Pseudocayratia'' J.Wen, L.M.Lu & Z.D.Chen * ''

'' (Miq.) Planch. ;Cisseae Starr 071024-9714 Cissus nodosa

* ''

'' L. (treebinds) - widespread in tropics & subtropics ;Parthenocisseae Parthenocissus quinquefolia fructis

* ''

'' Planch. * '' Yua'' C.L.Li ;Viteae * '' Ampelocissus'' Planch. * ''

'' L. (includes grape vine) ;tribe ''incertae sedis'' * '' Pterisanthes'' Blume (Indochina, Malesia)

Earliest fossil history

Well preserved-fruits of '' Indovitis chitaleyae'' containing seeds with similar morphology to the Vitaceae have been recovered from

Late Cretaceous The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the more recent of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''cre ...

Deccan Intertrappean beds of several sites in central

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. These fruits and their dispersed seeds found in the same sediments, about 66 million years old, represent the oldest known fossils of the grape family. The fossil fruits containing 4 to 6 seeds are very similar to extant ''Vitis''..

References

*
Vitaceae
at th
Angiosperm Phylogeny Web

i
L. Watson and M.J. Dallwitz (1992 onwards). The families of flowering plants: descriptions, illustrations, identification, information retrieval.
http://delta-intkey.com {{Authority control Rosid families