Vitis ficifolia var. ficifolia ("Ebizuru")

Japanese name: エビヅル （海老蔓）
Scientific name: Vitis ficifolia var. ficifolia

[Overview]
A deciduous woody climber seen in hilly areas and around houses.
Young branches are at first densely covered with pale reddish-purple woolly hairs.
The leaves are alternate, 5–8 cm in both length and width, and 3–5-lobed.
The leaves are thick, and reddish-brown woolly hairs remain on the underside.
The leaf margin has low teeth.
The leaf stalk is 2.5–8 cm long and covered with pale reddish-purple woolly hairs.
The leaves turn red in autumn.
Tendrils are produced opposite the leaves, appearing on two nodes and then skipping one.
The plant is dioecious.
Conical cymes 6–12 cm long are borne opposite the leaves.
The flowers are small and yellowish green; there are 5 petals, but they are joined at the top and fall off like a removed hat when the flower opens.
The fruit is a spherical fleshy berry about 6 mm in diameter, which ripens blackish purple and is edible.

[Uses]
The leaves are used as a substitute for moxa and, together with the roots, used medicinally.
Insects that burrow into the vines (budo-mushi) are used as fishing bait.

[Cultivation]
Propagate from seed or by cuttings.
Plants grown from seed turn out to be male or female.
It prefers sunny, airy, well-drained soil.
For potted plants, water thoroughly when the soil surface dries; for plants in the ground, rainfall is sufficient unless summer brings a long spell of sunny weather and the soil becomes severely dry.
Apply organic fertilizer around the plant as fertilizer in winter.
When pruning, cut back in winter, leaving the branches that grew the previous year.
There are no particular pests or diseases.

[Notes]
The Japanese name comes from likening the new, curved stems covered with red hairs to a shrimp.

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