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'' (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 ...

(''Vitis'' spp.) and

Virginia creeper ''Parthenocissus quinquefolia'', commonly known as Virginia creeper, woodbine, five-leaved ivy, or five-finger, is a species of flowering vine in the grape family Vitaceae. The species is native to eastern and central North America, with its r ...

(''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 A chromosome is a package of DNA containing part or all of the genetic material of an organism. In most chromosomes, the very long thin DNA fibers are coated with nucleosome-forming packaging proteins; in eukaryotic cells, the most importa ...

(n=19), but 40 (n=20) in subgenus '' Muscadinia'', while ''

Ampelocissus ''Ampelocissus'' is a genus of Vitaceae having 90 or more species found variously in tropical Africa, Asia, Central America, and Oceania. The type species, Ampelocissus latifolia, ''A. latifolia'', was originally treated under its basionym, ''Vit ...

'', ''

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 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 ...

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 The APG III system of flowering plant classification is the third version of a modern, mostly molecular-based, system of plant taxonomy being developed by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (APG). Published in 2009, it was superseded in 2016 by a f ...

(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 The rosids are members of a large clade (monophyly, monophyletic group) of flowering plants, containing about 70,000 species, more than a quarter of all angiosperms. The clade is divided into 16 to 20 Order (biology), orders, depending upon Circu ...

. In the

Cronquist system The Cronquist system is a list of systems of plant taxonomy, taxonomic classification system of angiosperms, flowering plants. It was developed by Arthur Cronquist in a series of monographs and texts, including ''The Evolution and Classification of ...

, 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 The APG IV system of flowering plant classification is the fourth version of a modern, mostly molecular-based, system of plant taxonomy for flowering plants (angiosperms) being developed by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (APG). It was published ...

(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 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 ...

* ''

Acareosperma ''Acareosperma'' is a plant genus in the family Vitaceae. The sole species is ''Acareosperma spireanum''. Distribution ''A. spireanum'' is an endemic species found in Laos, Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both ...

'' Gagnep. * '' Afrocayratia'' * ''

Causonis ''Causonis'' is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Vitaceae; it is now placed in the tribe Cayratieae. Its native range is Tropical and Subtropical Asia to Southwestern Pacific. Species ''Plants of the World Online Plants ...

'' Raf. * ''

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 ...

'' Juss. * ''

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 ...

'' (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 * ''

'' Planch. * ''

'' L. (includes grape vine) ;tribe ''incertae sedis'' * ''

Pterisanthes ''Pterisanthes'' is a vine plant genus in the subfamily Vitoideae. Its native range is Indochina to W. Malesia including the Philippines. The relationship between ''Pterisanthes'' and another genus "''Nothocissus''" with ''Ampelocissus'' has be ...

'' 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 The Deccan is a plateau extending over an area of and occupies the majority of the Indian peninsula. It stretches from the Satpura and Vindhya Ranges in the north to the northern fringes of Tamil Nadu in the south. It is bound by the mount ...

Intertrappean beds The Intertrappean Beds are a Late Cretaceous and early Paleogene geologic unit in India. These beds are found as interbeds between Deccan Traps layers, including the slightly older Lameta Formation. They consist a number of different subgroups ...

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