Vitis flexuosa Thunb.

Branchlets terete, with longitudinal ridges, with sparse arachnoid tomentum when young, becoming glabrescent; tendrils bifurcate. Leaves simple; stipules caducous; petiole 1.5-7 cm, with sparse arachnoid tomentum or subglabrate; leaf blade ovate, triangular-ovate, oval, or ovate-elliptic, 2.5-12 × 2.3-10 cm, abaxially with sparse arachnoid tomentum when young, eventually glabrescent, basal veins 5, lateral veins 4 or 5 pairs, veinlets inconspicuous, base slightly subcordate or subtruncate, rarely cordate, often asymmetrical, leaves with cordate bases with obtusely angled notch, margin with 5-12 slightly irregular teeth on each side, apex acute or acuminate. Panicle leaf-opposed, loose, 4-12 cm, basal branches well developed, or short and slender; peduncle 2-5 cm, with sparse arachnoid tomentum or nearly glabrescent. Pedicel 1.1-2.5 mm, glabrous. Buds obovoid, 2-3 mm, apex rounded and subtruncate. Calyx glabrous, undulately lobed. Filaments filiform, 0.7-1.3 mm; anthers yellow, oval, 0.4-0.6 mm. Pistil abortive in male flowers; ovary oval; style short. Berry globose, 8-10 mm in diam. Seeds obovoid, apex subrounded, chalazal knot elliptic, raphe slightly raised and surface smooth, ventral holes furrowed upward 1/4 from base. Fl. Mar-May, fr. Jul-Nov. 2n = 38.

A trailing climber, with smooth stem and branches, old branches somewhat woody; bark dark brown, peeling off in strips, tendril simple, glabrous, bifurcate, not tapering or forming adhesive disc at end. Leaves 4-8 x 3-6 cm, simple, cordate, ovate, sometimes deeply 3-5 lobed crenate-serrate, long acuminate, glabrous on both sides or bearded at the axil of the nerves beneath, membranous, mostly five nerved at the base; petiole 2-3 cm long, glabrous or ± tomentose, stipules oval, caducous. Inflorescence a thyrs, 2-3.5 cm long. Pedicel c.1.5 mm long. Calyx obscurely 5-lobed, minute, less than 1 mm across. Petals 5, c. 2 mm long. Stamens 5(-7). Ovary 4 celled with one ovule in each cell. Disc adnate to the base of ovary, style absent, stigma obscurely lobed. Berry black, globose 5-7 mm in diameter, 2-4 seeded. Seeds obovoid, black 3x3 4 mm.

Anhui, Fujian, Gansu, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Henan, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Shaanxi, Shandong, Sichuan, Taiwan, Yunnan, Zhejiang [India, Japan, Laos, Nepal, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam].

Himalaya (Kashmir to Nepal), Indo-China, W. & C. China.

Distribution: India, Pakistan, N.W Himalayas, Kashmir, China, Malayesia, and Japan.

1200-2100 m

Forests, shrublands, hillsides, valleys, meadows, fields; 100-2300 m.

Vitis cavaleriei H. Léveillé & Vaniot; V. flexuosa var. chinensis Veitch; V. flexuosa f. parvifolia (Roxburgh) Planchon; V. flexuosa var. parvifolia (Roxburgh) Gagnepain; V. flexuosa var. wallichii (Candolle) F. S. Wang; V. parvifolia Roxburgh; V. purani Buchanan-Hamilton ex D. Don; V. vulpina Linnaeus var. parvifolia (Roxburgh) Regel; V. wallichii Candolle.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Vitis flexuosa.

Vitis flexuosa is a species of liana in the grape family.

It has a very large native range in Asian tropical and temperate climate zones.