Vitaceæ

Vitaceæ, also called AMPELIDÆ, a natural order of polypetalous plants, of which the common vine may be regarded as the type. About 440 species are known, natives of warm and temperate climates, all shrubs, mostly climbing; with simple or compound leaves, with or without stipules, the lower leaves opposite, the upper ones alternate; the flower-stalks racemose, opposite to the leaves, sometimes (as in the vine), by abortion, changing into tendrils. The only plant of the order of much value, in an economical point of view, is the Vine (q.v.); but species of the genus Cissus and of Ampelopsis are sometimes planted for ornament. See VIRGINIA CREEPER.