Grape Vine is a liana growing up to 30 m tall, with
flaky bark. The leaves are alternate, palmately lobed, 5-20 cm long and
broad. Flowers are borne in large inflorescences carried on stalks 4-5
cm long, often bearing unbranched tendril. Flower are bisexual or
functionally pistillate with shorter sterile stamens, greenish in
colour, about 1.5 x 1 mm, flower-stalk about2 mm long, wiry, elongated
and thickened in fruit. Calyx is minute, cup-shaped. Petals are 5,
about 1.5 mm long, lanceshaped. The fruit is a berry, known as a grape,
in the wild species it is 6 mm in diameter and ripens dark purple to
blackish with a pale wax bloom. In cultivated plants it is usually much
larger, up to 3 cm long, and can be green, red, or purple-black. The
species typically occurs in humid forests and streamsides. The grape is
eaten fresh, processed to make wine or juice, or dried to produce
raisins. Cultivars of Vitis vinifera form the basis of the majority of
wines produced around the world. All of the familiar wine varieties
belong to Vitis vinifera, which is cultivated on every continent except
for Antarctica, and in all the major wine regions of the world. Grape
Vine is native to the Mediterranean region, central Europe, and
southwestern Asia, from Morocco and Portugal north to southern Germany
and east to northern Iran.
Identification credit: Ram Krishan
Photographed in Kathua, J & K and Manipur.
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The flower labeled Grape Vine is ...