Types of Vines

Grapevines

Grapevines are stems that climb on walls and fences by means of specialized supporting organs, called tendrils. Palmately veined leaves arise alternately along the stem. In most varieties, tendrils arise opposite two of every three successive leaves. Flowers, usually greenish, are borne in clusters and have staminate and pistillate flowers sometimes occurring on separate plants. Fruit is borne on 2-year-old canes, which are removed after harvesting the grapes.

Grapes are attacked by a great number of insect pests and plant diseases, of which the most common are black rot and downy mildew. See Diseases of Plants.

Scientific classification: Grapes belong to the family Vitaceae. The European grape is classified as Vitis vinifera, the northern fox grape as Vitis labrusca, the summer grape as Vitis aestivalis, the riverbank grape as Vitis riparia, and the muscadine grape as Vitis rotundifolia.

Gymnosperms - (Latin gymn-, “naked”; Greek sperma, “seed”), common name for any seed-bearing vascular plant without flowers. There are several types: the cycad, ginkgo, conifer, yew, and gnetophyte. Gymnosperms are woody plants, either shrubs, trees, or, rarely, vines (some gnetophytes). They differ from the other phylum of seed plants,-->> read more

Health Family
Cranberry, common name for several species of low vines of a genus of the heath family, and for their small, sour, seedy fruit. The plants, which belong to the same genus as the blueberry, have drooping, pink flowers and small, thick, evergreen leaves. The small, or European, cranberry grows wild in marshlands of temperate and colder regions of Europe and North America. The large, or American, cranberry is cultivated in the northeastern United States in sand-covered bogs that can be flooded or drained at will. Flooding protects the vines from frosts and freezing weather and destroys insect pests. Most of the cranberry crop produced in the United States each year is canned as sauce or jelly or bottled as juice. The cowberry, or mountain cranberry, is common in both Europe and North America. It is gathered and sold in considerable quantity but is rarely cultivated. The highbush cranberry, with its clusters of white flowers followed by red berries, is a shrub of the honeysuckle family. Its fruit is sometimes used as a substitute for cranberries.

Scientific classification: Cranberries belong to the genus Vaccinium of the family Ericaceae. The small, or European, cranberry is classifed as Vaccinium oxycoccos; the large, or American, cranberry as Vaccinium macrocarpon; and the cowberry, or mountain cranberry, as Vaccinium vitis-idaea. The highbush cranberry belongs to the family Caprifoliaceae and is classified as Viburnum opulus.

Honeysuckle Family
Honeysuckle, common name for a plant family and for its representative genus. The family contains about 400 species of dicot flowering plants (see Dicots), including many ornamentals. It occurs mainly in the North Temperate Zone, particularly in China, but it also extends into tropical mountains. Its members are mostly shrubs or small trees, although some familiar members are herbaceous—for example, elderberry and some species of honeysuckle, such as Japanese honeysuckle. The leaves are opposite one another on the branch and lack stipules (leafy appendages at the leaf base); the calyx and corolla (floral whorls) have fused parts and arise from above the ovary (female flower part); and usually five stamens are borne on the inside of the corolla tube. The fruit is usually a berry.

Scientific classification: Honeysuckles make up the family Caprifoliaceae. The representative genus is Lonicera. The Japanese honeysuckle is classified as Lonicera japonica and the trumpet honeysuckle as Lonicera sempervirens.

Hop, common name for any of a genus of vines (see Nettle). Hop plants have rough stems and heart-shaped leaves of three to seven lobes. Small staminate and pistillate flowers are produced on separate plants. Staminate flowers are borne in loose panicles, and pistillate flowers, borne in catkins, develop into achenes—dry, one-seeded fruits that are borne at the bases of overlapping bracts. The entire conelike catkin of achenes and bracts, the hop of commerce, is covered with a fine yellow powder called lupulin or hop flour. Lupulin, which gives the hop its bitter flavor and aroma, is used as a sedative. The common hop is native to Eurasia and is naturalized in the northern and western United States, Australia, and Brazil. The American hop is native to temperate North America. Several unrelated plants are commonly called hop, including bryony and black medick. The so-called hop plant is sweet marjoram.

Scientific classification: Hop plants constitute the genus Humulus, of the family Moraceae. The common hop is classified as Humulus lupulus, the American hop as humulus lupulus variety lupuloides.

Hydrangea, common name for certain deciduous and evergreen shrubs and woody vines. Hydrangeas are native to Asia and the Americas. The flowers are borne in clusters, the outermost flowers of which consist of a colored, membranous envelope, but the inner flowers of which have an eight- to ten-ribbed, tubular envelope, four or five ovate petals, eight to ten slender stamens, and a two-celled pistil. The fruit is a many-seeded capsule. The wild hydrangea of the eastern United States is an erect shrub that grows up to 3 m (up to 10 ft) high and bears white flowers in round clusters. The showier hydrangeas are cultivated Asian species, such as a typical cultivar of the hortensia, which grows up to 3.6 m (up to 12 ft) high; has broad, thick, shining leaves; and produces white, blue, or pink, flowers in round or flat clusters. The mock orange, a separate genus of the same family, also produces showy white flowers.

Scientific classification: The genus Hydrangea belongs to the family Saxifragaceae. The wild hydrangea is classified as Hydrangea arborescens and the typical cultivar of the hortensia as Hydrangea macrophylla cultivar hortensia.

Kiwi Fruit, common name for a southeast-Asian vine, also called Chinese gooseberry and yangtao, and for its edible fruit. The small, oval fruit has a thin brownish-green skin with a fuzzy surface. The flesh, which is a distinctive green, with tiny purplish seeds surrounding a white core, may be eaten raw or cooked.

Scientific classification: Kiwi fruit belongs to the family Actinidiaceae. It is classified as Actinidia chinensis.

Kudzu, common name of a vine native to China and Japan. The plant is a coarse-growing perennial with large trifoliate leaves having coarsely lobed leaflets. The flowers, borne on long racemes, are large and purple. The fruit is a flat, papery pod covered with a tawny down. Kudzu plants are grown from root cuttings. They produce long, lateral runners that generate roots at intervals.

Scientific classification: Kudzu belongs to the subfamily Papilionoideae, family Fabaceae (formerly Leguminosae). It is classified as Pueraria lobata.

Laurel Family
Laurel (plant), common name for a flowering plant family, widespread in tropical and subtropical regions, and for its representative genus. The laurel family contains between 30 and 50 genera and at least 2000 species. Several well-known and important genera of the family also occur in temperate areas, for example, camphor, cinnamon, avocado, and spice-bush. The laurel, or bay, also called bay laurel and bayberry, is a large evergreen shrub native to the Mediterranean region; it has been important since classical times and is now widely cultivated in warm temperate areas as an ornamental and for its aromatic leaves, which are used in cooking. California bay yields a valuable wood.

Scientific classification: Laurel is the common name for the family Lauraceae of the order Laurales. The laurel, or bay, is classified as Laurus nobilis and the California bay as Umbilicus californica.

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