Species Synonyms
In scientific literature and herbariums, the following Latin names are used to designate this species: Vitis davidii Romanet du Caillaud, Carrière; Spinovitis davidii Romanet du Caillaud, Carrière; and Vitis morandi Caplat. The common French name Vigne épineuse (thorny grapevine) is also documented.
Historical Background and Geographical Distribution
The Vitis davidii species was first described by Romanet du Caillaud in 1883 based on seedlings grown from seeds sent from China by the Catholic missionary and naturalist Armand David. The viticulturist J. E. Planchon erroneously confused it with Vitis romanetii, but Vitis davidii represents a distinctly characterized and unique species. Due to the presence of prickles, Armand David and Romanet du Caillaud initially proposed classifying it under a separate genus, Spinovitis. However, this morphological feature is insufficient for establishing a subgenus or genus, as all other characteristics of Vitis davidii align perfectly with true representatives of the genus Vitis.
According to accounts by Romanet du Caillaud, this species exhibits high vigor in the wild, comparable to Vitis romanetii. However, in French ampelographic collections, its growth remained limited, and the plant developed as a slender, weak vine. Vitis davidii shares its native habitat with Vitis romanetii, growing on the northern slopes of the Qinling (Tsing-Ling) Mountain range in the Chinese province of Shaanxi (Chan-Si). It occurs at altitudes ranging from 1,100 to 1,200 meters above sea level on metamorphic soils of a siliceous nature.
Botanical and Morphological Description
- Vine and Trunk: The vine has low vigor with a small trunk, exhibiting a predominantly bushy growth habit. The bark exfoliates in very small, tightly adherent, irregular shreds and displays a grayish-russet or tawny mahogany-russet tint.
- Annual and Herbaceous Shoots: The shoots are short, slender, sinuous, and feature relatively robust nodes. The internodes are short, with vaguely and irregularly defined striations. In their herbaceous state, the shoots are light green; upon wood maturity, they become glossy and brownish-russet. The diaphragms are plano-concave. The tendrils are intermittent, thin, and bifid. A distinct species characteristic is that the herbaceous shoots are densely covered with stiff, short compound hairs resembling rose prickles. These prickles are light green with browned tips and shed as the wood matures, leaving only barely perceptible traces on the lignified cane. The prickles are most abundantly localized around the nodes and are occasionally found at the base of the main veins.
- Leaf: The leaves are larger than average, round in shape (the blade length is approximately equal to its width), and entire. The upper lateral lobes are only slightly indicated by a longer terminal tooth. The serration of the leaf margin is double-rowed but weakly defined. The petiolar sinus is deep, V-shaped, and nearly closed. The leaf blade is thick. The upper surface of the leaf is bright green and smooth, with the blade margins slightly turned upward. The lower surface is matte, pale, or grayish-green. The main veins on the lower surface are robust and strongly prominent, whereas on the upper surface they appear sunken into the leaf tissue. The petiole is short and thin.
- Inflorescences and Berries: The cluster is very small, and the berries are very small and spherical. The peduncle and pedicels are extremely short. The skin is thick, matte black with a violet tint. The pulp is melting, the juice is extremely sparse, and the flavor is subacid.
- Seeds: At the time of compiling this description, the seeds were unknown to the authors of the primary source.
