Cissus erosa - © Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

Cissus campestris - © Julio Antonio Lombardi

Cissus decidua - © Julio Antonio Lombardi

Cissus erosa; subsp erosa - © Julio Antonio Lombardi

Cissus gongylodes -© Julio Antonio Lombardi

Cissus nobilis - © Julio Antonio Lombardi

Contributor

Julio Antonio Lombardi

Address

Universidade Estadual Paulista 'Júlio de Mesquita Filho', São Paulo, Brazil

Description

Lianas or rarely shrubs; rhaphides usually present in all parts, roots sometimes adventitious (many Cissus); stems rarely forming aerial tubers (some Cissus), or short, woody and subterranean (some shrubby species), sometimes with hard or soft emergences; tendrils usually present, leaf-opposed, with 0 or more branches, adhesive discs sometimes present. Pearl-glands present (many Cissus). Stipules present, usually small, caducous, sometimes persistent, rarely transformed into turgid spines, sometimes forming dilated structure embracing entire node. Leaves alternate, simple or compound. Inflorescences leaf-opposed or terminal, rarely axillary, cymose with a central flower terminating each axil, or racemose without terminal flowers, sometimes with 1-2 tendril-like branches; bract and bracteole small, sometimes nectar secreting, the bract subtending each branch. Flowers actinomorphic, small, bisexual, sometimes unisexual (plants monecious or polygamous, and flowers functionally staminate, some Ampelocissus and Vitis); flower buds ellipsoid, oval, or conical, sometimes spherical or cylindrical; sepals 4-5, fused, calyx usually truncate, rounded, or rarely lobed (some Cissus) at base; petals 4-5, valvate, distinct or connate at base, or distally coherent and calyptra-like (Vitis), caducous at anthesis, rarely persistent (some Cissus); androecium with 4-5 stamens, minute, distinct; intrastaminal disc present, adnate to ovary (Cissus and Ampelocissus), free and ring-like (Ampelopsis), of separated glands (Vitis), or absent (Parthenocissus), sometimes the outer border projected above, forming small cup (some Cissus); gynoecium syncarpous, the ovary superior, the carpels 2, the locules 2, the style simple, the stigma minute, entire; ovules 2 per locule. Fruits berries, spherical or ellipsoid, the epicarp thin and chartaceous or thick and crustaceous (ellipsoid fruits), the mesocarp fleshy and juicy, the endocarp adherent to seed testa, more fibrous than mesocarp, fleshy and juicy. Seeds 1(2-4), the testa variously ribbed and grooved with two ventral intrusions into endosperm (foveae), dorsal chalaza usually present (except in most Cissus); endosperm ruminate, 3-lobed, corneous, the embryo minute.

Distribution in Neotropics

Ampelopsis - Mexico, Guatemala
Ampelocissus - Mexico, Mesoamerica, Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola
Cissus - - Mexico, Mesoamerica, Caribbean, South America
Vitis - Mexico, Mesoamerica, Colombia, Ecuador

Number of genera

13 genera worldwide (6 in Neotropics)
Acareosperma
Ampelopsis
Ampelocissus
Cayratia
Cissus
Clematicissus
Cyphostemma
Nothocissus
Parthenocissus
Rhoicissus
Tetrastigma
Vitis
Yua

Status

Ampelocissus (Native)

Ampelopsis (Native)

Cissus (Native, Cultivated, Naturalised)

Parthenocissus (Cultivated)

Tetrastigma (Cultivated)

Vitis (Native, Cultivated)

Key differences from similar families

Leaf-opposite tendrils and/or inflorescences (axillary in Cucurbitaceae and Sapindaceae)

Distinguishing characters (always present)

Leaf-opposite tendrils and/or inflorescences
Valvate petals with opposite stamens
Stipules present, caducous or persistent

Other important characters

4-merous flowers
intrastaminal disc or separated glands

Useful tips for generic identification

Ampelocissus - stigma entire, panicles or thyrses, disc adnate to ovary, associate tendrils in inflorescences present, adhesive discs absent, cobwebby hairs present

Ampelopsis - lianas, stigma entire, panicles or thyrses, disc only adnate to ovary baseassociate tendrils in inflorescences absent but inflorescence branches sometimes tendril-like, adhesive discs absent, cobwebby hairs absent.

Cissus - stigma entire, cymes, disc adnate to ovary, associate tendrils in inflorescences absent, adhesive discs present or absent, cobwebby hairs absent

Parthenocissus (CULTIVATED) - stigma entire, panicles or thyrses, disc absent, inflorescences with associate tendrils, adhesive discs present, cobwebby hairs absent

Tetrastigma (CULTIVATED) - stigma 4-lobed, panicles or thyrses, ‘disc’ composed by separate glands, inflorescences with associate tendrils, adhesive discs absent, cobwebby hairs present or absent

Vitis - stigma entire, panicles or thyrses, ‘disc’ composed by separate glands, inflorescences with associate tendrils, adhesive discs absent, cobwebby hairs present or absent

Notable genera and distinguishing features

Cissus - stigma entire, cymes, disc adnate to ovary, associate tendrils in inflorescences absent, adhesive discs present or absent, cobwebby hairs absent

Vitis - stigma entire, panicles or thyrses, ‘disc’ composed by separate glands, inflorescences with associate tendrils, adhesive discs absent, cobwebby hairs present or absent

General notes

Some native species have economic potential, fruits of Mesoamerican Ampelocissus are used for local people for vinegar preparation and as table fruit. Some South American Cissus (e.g. C. stipulata Vell. and C. trigona Willd. ex Schult. & Schult.f.) has the biggest fruits of all Neotropical species, these berries are reported as sweet in Herbarium labels, usually the small-fruited species have unpleasant fruits, fill with stinging rhaphides.

Cissus verticillata (L.) Nicolson & C.E.Jarvis subsp. verticillata has the widest geographic and altitudinal distribution of all the Neotropical species. It occurs in almost all American countries, except Canada and Chile, and altitudes range from sea level to 2,500 m. In Brazil it is the only species under intense pharmacological study because of its reported medicinal properties. It is also cultivated around the world as an ornamental, although it is a potential weed, as in the Florida orange groves.

Important literature

Lombardi, J. A. 1995. Typification of names of South American Cissus (Vitaceae). Taxon 44: 193-206.
Lombardi, J. A. 1997. Types of names in Ampelocissus and Cissus (Vitaceae) referring to taxa in the Caribbean, Central and N. America. Taxon 46: 423-432.
Lombardi, J. A. 2000. Vitaceae - Gêneros Ampelocissus, Ampelopsis e Cissus. Flora Neotropica monograph 80: 1-250.
Lombardi, J. A. 2001. Vitaceae. In: G. Harling & L. Anderson (eds.), Opera Botanica. Series B. Flora of Ecuador 67: 1-36.
Lombardi, J. A. 2004. Vitaceae, In: N. Smith, S. A. Mori, A. Henderson, D. W. Stevenson & S. V. Head (eds.), Flowering Plant of the Neotropics: 394-396. Princeton, Princeton University Press.
Rossetto, M., B. R. Jackes, K. D. Scott & R. J. Henry. 2002. Is the genus Cissus (Vitaceae) monophyletic? Evidence from plastid and nuclear ribosomal DNA. Systematic Botany 27: 522–533.
Soejima, A & J. Wen. 2006. Phylogenetic analysis of the grape family (Vitaceae) based on three chloroplast markers. American Journal of Botany 93: 278-287.