Vitis flexuosa (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Vitis flexuosa Thunb.

Family: Vitaceae

Vernacular names

• Indonesia: areuj sirarah (Sundanese).

Distribution

Japan, China, Indonesia, the Philippines.

Uses

Fruits edible, used to make wine. Leaves rich in sugar and eaten in Japan. Leaves used against fever on Java.

Observations

• Climbing vine with unlobed leaves and bifid tendrils.
• Fruit a globose berry, 6-7 mm diameter, dark blue.

It grows in lower mountain regions in thickets, but is rare in Java.

Selected sources

• Backer, C.A. & Bakhuizen van den Brink, R.C., 1963 1968. Flora of Java. 3 Volumes. Noordhoff, Groningen, the Netherlands.

• Burkill, I.H., 1966. A dictionary of the economic products of the Malay Peninsula. 2nd ed. 2 Volumes. Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 2444 pp.

• Heyne, K., 1927. De nuttige planten van Nederlandsch Indië [The useful plants of the Dutch East Indies]. 2nd ed. 3 Volumes. Departement van Landbouw, Nijverheid en Handel in Nederlandsch Indië. 1953 pp.

Authors

P.C.M. Jansen, J. Jukema, L.P.A. Oyen, T.G. van Lingen