Vitis coignetiae, called crimson glory vine, is a plant belonging to the genus Vitis that is native to the temperate climes of Asia, where it can be found in the Russian Far East, (Sakhalin); Korea; and Japan (Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku). It was described botanically in 1883. It is called meoru (Korean: 머루) in Korean and yama-budo (Japanese: ヤマブドウ) in Japanese.
The species name is dedicated to Marie Coignet,,[1] who reportedly brought seeds back from a trip to Japan with her husband in 1875.[2]
This vine was also reported in 1884 snowy regions of Japan by Henri Degron sent to East Asia to seek wild vines resistant to Phylloxera. Degron sent specimens to a Professor Planchon of Montpellier who named them Vitis coignetiae but did not retain them due to their low resistance to phylloxera. Degron planted a vineyard in Crespières, Île-de-France where one of the vines reached a length of 32.8 meters and a height of 2.8 meter. In the cooler Norman climate the vine produces a bitter wine, rich in color and extract.
The vine is very vigorous, with grey-brown, tomentose shoots. The deciduous leaves are large (10-25 cm in diameter), simple, orbicular, toothed, with 5-15 cm long petiole. Dark green during the growing season, they turn red-orange in autumn.[3]
Wild vines can be male, female or hermaphrodite. Clusters are large with small, purple-black, seeded berries. It is found in the mountainous regions of Japan and up to 1300 m altitude in Korea.
In East Asia it is grown as an ornamental plant for its crimson autumn foliage; and as an Oriental medicinal plant.
It is a recipient of the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.[4]
It is used to produce wines in Korea and Japan. These are at first bitter, but softened with the addition of sugar.
The plant contains the stilbenoids ε-viniferin and rhapontigenin.[5]