Tetrastigma is a genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 of plants in the grape family, Vitaceae

Vitaceae

Vitaceae are a family of dicotyledonous flowering plants including the grapevine and Virginia creeper. The family name is derived from the genus Vitis...

. The plants are vine

Vine

A vine in the narrowest sense is the grapevine , but more generally it can refer to any plant with a growth habit of trailing or scandent, that is to say climbing, stems or runners...

s that climb with tendril

Tendril

In botany, a tendril is a specialized stem, leaf or petiole with a threadlike shape that is used by climbing plants for support, attachment and cellular invasion by parasitic plants, generally by twining around suitable hosts. They do not have a lamina or blade, but they can photosynthesize...

s and have palmately compound leaves. The species are found in subtropical and tropical regions of Asia

Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...

, Malesia

Malesia

Malesia is a biogeographical region straddling the boundaries of the Indomalaya ecozone and Australasia ecozone, and also a phytogeographical floristic region in the Paleotropical Kingdom.-Floristic province:...

, and Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, where they grow in primary rainforest, gallery forest

Gallery forest

Gallery forests are evergreen forests that form as corridors along rivers or wetlands and project into landscapes that are otherwise only sparsely treed such as savannas, grasslands or deserts....

 and monsoon forest and moister woodland

Woodland

Ecologically, a woodland is a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade. Woodlands may support an understory of shrubs and herbaceous plants including grasses. Woodland may form a transition to shrubland under drier conditions or during early stages of...

. Species of this genus are notable as being the sole hosts of parasitic plant

Parasitic plant

A parasitic plant is one that derives some or all of its sustenance from another plant. About 4,100 species in approximately 19 families of flowering plants are known. Parasitic plants have a modified root, the haustorium, that penetrates the host plant and connects to the xylem, phloem, or...

s in the family Rafflesiaceae

Rafflesiaceae

Rafflesiaceae is a family of parasitic plants found in east and southeast Asia, including Rafflesia arnoldii, the plant with the largest flower of all plants. The plants are endoparasites of vines in the genus Tetrastigma and lack stems, leaves, roots, and any photosynthetic tissue...

, one of which, Rafflesia arnoldii

Rafflesia arnoldii

Rafflesia arnoldii is a member of the genus Rafflesia. It is noted for producing the largest individual flower on earth, and a strong odor of decaying flesh - the latter point earning it the nickname of "corpse flower". It is an endemic plant that occurs only in the rainforest of Bengkulu and...

, produces the largest flower in the world.

Within the Vitaceae, Tetrastigma is most closely related to Cayratia

Cayratia

The botanical genus Cayratia comprises approximately 45 species, some of which have utility value to people. It is found in tropical and subtropical areas of Asia, Africa, Australia, and islands of the Pacific ocean....

and Cyphostemma

Cyphostemma

Cyphostemma is a flowering plant genus belonging to the family Vitaceae. These species are caudiciform and used to belong to the genus Cissus...

.

Selected species

• Tetrastigma bracteolatum (Wall.) Planch.
• Tetrastigma harmandii Planch.
• Tetrastigma leucostaphylum (Dennst.) Alston ex Mabb.
• Tetrastigma nitens
  Tetrastigma nitens
  Tetrastigma nitens is a species of liana native to rainforests, dry rainforest and gallery forest of tropical and subtropical eastern Australia....
  
  (F.Muell.) Planch.
• Tetrastigma planicaule (Hook.f.) Gagnep.
• Tetrastigma pubinerve Merr. & Chun
• Tetrastigma serrulatum (Roxb.) Planch.
• Tetrastigma voinierianum (Baltet) Pierre ex Gagnep.

List sources :