Synonyms

The following names are used for this species in botanical literature: Vitis romaneti Romanet du Caillaud, Spinovitis davidii Carrière, Vitis romaneti mascula Carrière, Vitis romaneti serotina Carrière, Vitis romaneti obtusifolia Carrière, as well as the name Vigne Madame Victor Caplat André.

Distribution and Ecology

The species Vitis romaneti was precisely identified and described by Romanet du Caillaud in 1881, based on plant materials sent by Abbé Armand David and Bishop Pagnucci. Along with the species Vitis coignetiae, it is recognized as one of the most vigorous grapevines of Asia and one of the most beautiful representatives of the genus.
The homeland of this grapevine is China, where it was collected by Abbé David in the Shaanxi province (at 32°20′ north latitude). In its natural habitat, it grows in mountainous regions at an altitude of 1300 to 1400 meters above sea level, where snow cover persists for a long time. Upon introduction into European collections, the vine demonstrated high adaptability, developing successfully throughout the temperate zone of viticulture, and formed a very lush, luxurious vegetative mass in the vicinity of Paris.

Botanical Description

  • Bush: Possesses exceptional vigor, climbing. In natural forest conditions, it develops a powerful trunk and forms long lianas climbing up the crowns of trees. The bark is very thick, reddish-fawn-gray, shedding in irregular coarse fragments and longitudinal strips.
  • Shoots: Very long, strong, straight, with weak sinuosity at the nodes. The internodes are covered with fine longitudinal furrows; the matured wood has a matte, shiny greenish-brown color and a rough surface. The wood is soft, light green in cross-section, with a loose brown pith. The diaphragms in the nodes are thick, plano-concave; the nodes themselves are very distinctly pronounced. Young herbaceous shoots are light green and carry a unique diagnostic feature — they are densely covered with numerous complex club-shaped hairs of a bright red color, which stand out sharply against the green background. Until the end of flowering, these fibers retain their bright pinkish-red hue, giving the bush a decorative appearance, and then dry up and turn brown. Tendrils are intermittent, strong, short, forked, and in rare cases simple.
  • Leaves: Medium-sized, slightly longer than wide, of a pronounced heart shape. The leaf blade is entire, or with a barely indicated short terminal lobe bounded by two shallow side sinuses. The petiole sinus is deep, V-shaped, almost closed. The leaf blade is thick, bullate, with margins slightly turned (bent) toward the underside, and with a wavy surface between the main veins. The veins are very strong, strongly projecting on the underside and depressed on the upper side. The upper side of the leaf has a beautiful bright green color, completely hairless. The underside is colored a lighter, matte green, with characteristic pink club-shaped hairs distributed along the main veins, resembling small glands and creating a strong contrast. The petiole is short, thin in the central part, noticeably thickened at the point of attachment to the shoot; the petiole and the bases of the main veins at their point of convergence have an intense wine-red color.
  • Fruit and Clusters: The cluster is medium, conical in shape, with well-developed lateral wings. The peduncle of the cluster is short, thick, matte, with a wine-red tint; pedicels are short. The berries in the cluster are tightly arranged. The berry is of medium or below medium size, round (spherical) in shape, firm. The skin is thin but durable, with a light purple-black sheen and an abundant content of coloring matter. The pulp is juicy, and the juice is characterized by moderate sugar content and a noticeable refreshing acidity.
  • Seeds: The berry usually contains two seeds. The seeds are small, almost regularly spherical in shape, with a rugose, folded surface. The color of the seeds is shiny, intensely reddish-brown (the color of a ripe chestnut). The beak is rudimentary, very short, practically not separated from the body of the seed, and looks like a small point. The chalaza, the seed seam, and the groove at the apex of the seed are very clearly expressed and form rather deep depressions. At the same time, the chalaza itself is rudimentary closer to the beak and completely disappears in the upper part of the depression; the seed seam is absent. The ventral keel is very weakly expressed, almost unnoticeable. On the ventral side closer to the beak, there are two rather deep, symmetrical pits that completely smooth out and disappear toward the apex of the seed (pic. 721-722).