Relatives
Vitis vinifera L. - Cultural grapes.
Regular position.
Family: Vitacea Juss.; Genus: Vitis L.Morphology and biology.
A perennial plant, a tree up to 30-40 m in height. The bark is usually separated as strips. Branches are brown - red or yellowy-brown. Leaves are ovare, reniform or pentagonal, entire, 3-5-lobed ordissected, from 5 up to 20 cm in diameter, naked or pubescent, especially - from below. Flowers are dioecious or functional ones are pistil, with short, curved back, fruitless stamens. Stamen flowers are seldom, as exception. Inflorescences - panicles, sometimes with short moustaches. Clusters have cylindrical or conic form. Fruits are 6-20 mm in length, have different forms - ovare, oval, lengthened, round, etc.; different painting - black - violet, dark red, pink, yellow, green, etc. Pulp of fruitsis juicy, mucous, to taste - sweet or acidy-sweet. There are 3-4 seeds in a fruit, 2-5 mm in length, pear-shaped or ovare forms, withrostrum; less often seeds are absent. Blossoms in May - June, fructifies in August - September. Anemophylous. Zoochore.Distribution.
The generaldistribution: Middle Europe, the Mediterranean, Balkany - Asia Minor and Armenian - Kurdish areas, Iran, Japan, China, Northern and South America, Argentina, Chile, Northern Africa, Southern Africa (Kap, about. Madagascar), Australia, New Zealand. In territory of the former USSR: the European part - Moldova, Crimea, Black Sea Coast, the Bottom Don, the Bottom Volga; Caucasus - Ciscaucasia, Dagestan, Transcaucasia (Western, East and Southern); Central Asia - southern areas.Ecology.
This species is introducted into culture for many millenia B.C., ancestors of it precisely are not established; the species is widely cultivated and easily runs wild in all specified territories. Most close to cultural are wild forms meeting in natural cenosis in territory of Central Asia, its grow on stone soils in mountain and foothill areas.Use and economic value.
People hands create all variety of modern forms of cultural grapes. Selection and breeding were conducted on two directions of use - for preparation of wine (wine varieties) and as a food dietary product (dining varieties). From wine varieties, except wine, they produce cognac, grape vodka and spirit. Wet, dry and advanced (juice, a syrup, jam) berries are used for food. The dried berries of grapes (raisin) are keeping for long time and are useing in confectionery manufacture. A grape is widely used as an ornamental plant and as a fixer of sand on the deserted and semidesertic grounds.References:
Cherepanov, S.K. 1995. Plantae Vasculares Rossicae et Civitatum Collimitanearum (in limicis USSR olim). St-Petersburg, "Mir I Semia", 990 p. (in Russian).Flora USSR, 1949. Vol. XIV, Shishkin B.K., Bobrov E.G. (ed.) M.-L.: Publishing House of Acad. Science, pp. 686-697. (in Russian).
Grossheim, A.A. 1962. Flora of Caucasia. - Leningrad, Nauka, Vol. VI, p. 131. (in Russian).
Nikitin, V.V., Geldihanov A.M. 1988. The Manual of plants of Turkmenistan. L.: Nauka, p. 400. (in Russian).
The Manual of Middle Asia plants, 1983. T.A. Adylov (ed.) - Tashkent, "Fan", Vol. VII, p. 91-92. (in Russian).