Vitis wuhanensis C. L. Li

Plants polygamo-dioecious. Branchlets terete, slender, with longitudinal ridges, with sparse arachnoid tomentum; tendrils bifurcate, leaf-opposed. Leaves simple; stipules brownish, elliptic-lanceolate, 2.5-3.5 × 1-1.5 mm, membranous, glabrous, entire, apex obtuse or acute; petiole 1.5-4 cm, with arachnoid tomentum when young, then glabrate; leaf blade ovate or oval, 3-lobed or inconspicuously 3-5-divided, 3-7 × 2.5-6 cm, abaxially white with sparse arachnoid tomentum when young, then glabrate, adaxially glabrous, basal veins 5, lateral veins 4 or 5 pairs, veinlets conspicuous at fruiting stage, base cordate, margin 5-13-toothed on each side, teeth obtuse, apex acute or acuminate. Panicle leaf-opposed, 2.5-4 cm, narrow, basal branches undeveloped; peduncle 1.5-2.5 cm, with sparse arachnoid tomentum. Pedicel 2-3 mm, glabrous. Buds obovoid-elliptic, 1.5-2.5 mm, apex rounded. Calyx ca. 2 mm, subentire. Filaments filiform, 1.2-1.8 mm; anthers yellow, elliptic, ca. 0.5 mm. Pistil abortive in male flowers. Berry globose, 6-7 mm in diam. Seeds obovoid, apex retuse, chalazal knot elliptic, ventral holes furrowed from base upward nearly to apex. Fl. Apr-May, fr. May-Jul.

Henan (Xinyang), Hubei, Jiangxi.

● Forests, shrublands in valleys, hillsides; 300-700 m.

Vitis wuhanensis var. arachnoidea X. D. Wang & C. L. Li.

Vitis wuhanensis (known locally as wu han pu tao, meaning Wuhan grape) is a tropical or sub-tropical, polygamo-dioecious species of liana in the grape family native to the Chinese provinces of Henan (far south, near Xinyang), Hubei and Jiangxi, found in valleys and along hillsides, in forests or shrublands, at elevations from 300 up to 700 meters. It flowers in April and May (male flowers have abortive gynoecia), and bears globular berries (6–7 mm. diam.) as early as May, and as late as July.

The specimen that was later to be named V. b. var. arachnoidea was collected from Jiangxi province in the vicinity of Pingxiang. The elevation was somewhere between 300 and 700 meters.