2022 Volume 97 Issue 1 Pages 33-50
Although shoot organization in the Vitaceae, a family of about 900 species has long been interested in and studied, the number of the species examined are limited and observations have been insufficient. In this study, based on the morphological observations on some species of the Vitaceae cultivated or growing wild in Japan, their shoot organizations are described and compared, and following comments are presented: 1) Causonis japonica (= Cayratia japonica) has short shoots terminated by an inflorescence in the tendril-less nodes. 2) As the arrangement of the first scaly leaves (bracts) on the tendril of Parthenocissus tricuspidata succeeds the phyllotaxis of the main shoot, the tendril may be considered to be a part of a sympodial unit of the shoot. 3) Among the species examined, the ventral placement of the first leaf of the secondary shoot was observed only in Ampelopsis glandulosa (= A. brevipedunculata). 4) The structure of short shoot of Parthenocissus tricuspidata appears to be complex: After two foliage leaves, it may produce inflorescence(s), a tendril and a continuation shoot.
