A slender-stemmed, elegant climber; shoots glabrous, or downy only when quite young. Leaves roundish ovate and heart-shaped at the base, or triangular and truncate at the base, often contracted at the apex to a slender point; amongst the smallest in the genus, being ordinarily 2 to 31⁄2 in. across, of thin firm texture, glabrous and glossy above, downy on the veins and in the vein-axils beneath. Inflorescence slender, 2 to 6 in. long. Fruits about the size of a pea, black.
Native of Japan, Korea and China. Long cultivated but now represented in British gardens mainly by the following:
var. parvifolia (Roxb.) Gagnep. V. flexuosa f. parvifolia (Roxb.) Planch.; V. parvifolia Roxb. – As introduced by Wilson from W. Hupeh around 1900 this differs in the smaller leaves, shining bronzy green above, purple beneath when young, and is one of the daintiest in leaf of the true vines. It received an Award of Merit in 1903 when exhibited by Messrs Veitch under the name V. flexuosa Wilsonii, though some of the plants they distributed under this name were apparently Ampelopsis bodinieri.
The var. parvifolia is widely distributed from the Himalaya to southern and central China and Formosa, and is regarded as a distinct species by many authorities.