The Swedish botanist Carl von Linné (1707-1778) developed the foundations of modern taxonomy and introduced the concept of species to biological systematics. In his two-volume work "Species Plantarum", published in 1753, he described all the plants known to him on 1,200 pages with around 7,300 species. Among other things, the plant genus Vitis(grapevine) was described here for the first time. Together with the work "Systema Naturæ", published in 1758, this established the scientific nomenclature in botany and zoology that is still used today.
However, Linne's classification system did not yet include all the categories and levels used today. However, these are not always used for all plants or animals. The respective use simply depends on how complex the respective units are. The three main categories almost always mentioned in specialised sources are family-genus-species. Each category can be broken down into "subcategories" (subspecies). Similarly, a "superdivision" can be created as the last sublevel of a main category, which then stands above the next main category (superdiviso).
There are various systems, some with different classifications and designations. The German Professor Dr Bernhard Husfeld (1900-1970), the director of the Geilweilerhof Institute (Siebeldingen-Pfalz), created a widely recognised classification system. Another was developed in 1967 by the French ampelographer Pierre Galet (1921-2019). Prof. Dr Manfred A. Fischer (Department of Botanical Systematics and Evolutionary Research, Faculty of Life Sciences at the University of Vienna, Austria) provided valuable information for the systematics presented here.
Stage |
Lat. ref. |
Vine - Explanations |
Domain | - | Eukarya (organisms with a true nucleus) |
kingdom | regnum | Chlorobionta (chlorophyll plants) or Viridiplantae |
subkingdom | subregnum | Archegoniatae (Archegonium plants) or Embryophyta |
superdivision | superdiviso | Tracheophyta (vascular plants) |
division | diviso | Spermatophyta (seed plants) |
subdivision | subdiviso | Angiospermophytina (angiosperms) |
class | classis | Rosopsida (trifurcate pollen dicotyledons) |
subclass | subclassis | Rosidae (rose plants) |
order | ordo | Vitales (vines) |
family | familia | Vitaceae (grapevine family) |
genus | genus | Vitis (grapevine) there are 13 others, but only Vitis is suitable for viticulture |
subgenus | subgenus | Vitis subg. Euvitis - comprises around 60 species Vitis subg. Muscadinia - comprises 2 to 3 species |
Species | species | Vitis vinifera - only 1 species with two (three) subspecies Vitis abcdef - around 30 species - Asian varieties Vitis abcdef - around 30 species - American varieties |
subspecies | subspecies | Vitis vinifera subsp. sylvestris (European wild grapevine) Vitis vinifera subsp. caucasica (Caucasian wild grapevine) Vitis vinifera subsp. vinifera (noble vine) - European varieties |
Variety | varietas | is reserved for wild vine populations (not cultivated vines) |
form | forma | is reserved for wild vine populations (not cultivated vines) |
Variety/Cultivar | - | Cabernet Sauvignon, Riesling, Traminer - 3 out of around 10,000 |
The genus Vitis is probably over 130 million years old, the grape-bearing variety Vitis vinifera probably over 80 million years old (dinosaurs were still around at the time). For 79.99 million years, the vine was dioecious, meaning that male and female organs were arranged on separate plants. It is only in the last 10,000 years or so that humans have selected the hermaphroditic varieties due to their incomparably higher yield security and introduced them into cultivation. The hermaphrodite flower form therefore only corresponds to the last milliseconds of vine evolution, so to speak. However, this also means that...
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Technischer Lehrer, staatl. geprüfter Sommelier, Hotelfachschule Heidelberg