The Vitaceae, also called the grape family, is a family of flowering plants that has 20 genera and around 910 known species in its monotypic order Vitales, including common plants such as grapevines (Vitis spp.) and Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia). The family name is derived from the genus Vitis.

Most of its members are distributed in tropical areas and many are dominant climbers with ecological significance, but some could be shrubs or tree. Some produce pearl bodies that may be a defense trait and a food source for arthropods.

Phylogeny and taxonomy

The family 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.

In APG III system (2009) and APG IV system (2016), the family is placed in its own order, Vitales, and molecular phylogenetic studies consider Vitales as the most basal order in the clade rosids.

Plants of the World Online currently accepts the following genera, and these genera can be placed in two subfamilies, Leeoideae and Vitoideae. The subfamilies are sometimes recognized as separate families. Other genera in the family such as Ampelocissus, Parthenocissus, and Ampelopsis could have 40 chromosomes (n=20) while genus Cissus may have 24 chromosomes (n=12). Their habitats include tropical and temperate forests, savannas and limestone mountains., and it has more than 40,000 grapevine cultivar names. The first American grape species being cultivated is Muscadine (Vitis rotundifolia) and can be dated back to mid-18th century.

Fossil species Indovitis chitaleyae is believed to be the earliest example of Vitaceae. One study published in 2013 examined the fruits and seeds of I. chitaleyae unearthed from Late Cretaceous Deccan Intertrappean beds of several sites in central India. The seeds investigated, including the ones from immature fruits bearing 4-6 seeds each and isolated mature seeds, are about 66 millions years old, and they feature diagnostic characteristics of order Vitales, such as having "paired ventral infolds and a dorsal chalaza".

References

Further reading

  • Vitaceae at Angiosperm Phylogeny Website
  • Vitidaceae at DELTA – DEscription Language for TAxonomy