Ampelopsis vitifolia (Boiss.) Planchon in DC., Monogr. Phan. 5: 454. 1887. Cissus vitifolia Boiss., Diagn. Pl. Orient. ser. 1: 1(6): 31. 1846. Vitis persica Boiss., Fl. Orient. 1: 955. 1867.

Scrambling shrubs; stems and branches slender, subterete, striate, glabrous, glaucous; tendrils absent. Leaves subreniform or 3-lobed, 5-10 x 4-11 cm, acuminate at apex, truncate to shallowly cordate at base, inciso-dentate at margins, glabrous, 5-nerved at base; nerves pale beneath; petioles 1.5-5 cm long. Inflorescences dichotomously branched, cymose, ca 5 mm long; peduncles 2-5 cm long. Flowers ca 2 mm long, greenish yellow; pedicels 2-3 mm long, glabrous. Calyx cupular, subtruncate, glabrous. Petals ca 1.5 x 1 mm, glabrous. Stamens ca 1.5 mm long. Disc cupular. Ovary ca 1 mm across; style short, subulate; stigma subcapitate. Berries ca 8 mm across, black with 2 rings at base, one being the persistent calyx and the other slightly accrescent disc, 2-4-seeded. Seeds obovoid, ca 5 x 4 mm, adaxial surface angular with an elongated pit on either side of the raphe; abaxial surface convex with a spathulate chalazal knot.

Fl. & Fr. : May - Sept.

Distrib. India: Jammu & Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh.

Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran.

Notes. Chromosome number 2n=40 (Christoff, M. in Bull. Soc. Bot. Bulg. 3: 279-302. 1929).