Parts of a Grape Vine – Labeled Diagram and Quiz

All 14 parts on the diagram

Show the list

The vine in summer 9

Trunk The trunk is the main permanent stem of the vine. It holds up everything above the ground.
Cordon An arm trained sideways from the top of the trunk. It runs along a trellis wire. It stays on the vine for many seasons.
Shoot A shoot is the green growth of the current season. It carries the leaves, the tendrils and the fruit.
Leaf The leaves are where the vine makes its food from sunlight.
Petiole The petiole is the leaf stalk. It holds the leaf out from the shoot.
Tendril Coils round a wire or another shoot and holds the vine up. Tendrils grow opposite a leaf.
Fruit cluster Each grape in the cluster is a berry.
Sucker Suckers grow from the base of the trunk. Growers usually take them off.
Roots Anchor the vine and take up water and minerals from the soil.

The vine in winter 5

Spur A cane cut back to a short stub with a few buds. Next season's shoots grow from those buds.
Cane A cane is a shoot that has ripened. After its leaves fall it is brown and woody.
Node Leaves, tendrils and buds are attached to a shoot at its nodes.
Bud A bud forms where a leaf joined the shoot. The next season's shoots grow from buds.
Internode An internode is the stretch of shoot or cane between two nodes.

How this list was compiled: Every name checked on 2026-09-30 against sources read that day. (1) eXtension Grapes, Parts of the Grape Vine: Shoots; Roots; Flowers and Fruit, by Ed Hellman, Texas AgriLife Extension (Internet Archive copies of https://grapes.extension.org/parts-of-the-grape-vine-shoots/ and its two sister pages): trunk, cordons, arms, spurs, canes, shoots, nodes, internodes, leaf blade and petiole, tendrils, buds, suckers, clusters and berries, and what the roots do. (2) University of Missouri Extension, G6090 Home Fruit Production: Grape Training Systems, https://extension.missouri.edu/publications/g6090: trunk, shoots, canes, cordons, spurs, suckers. (3) University of Minnesota Extension, Growing grapes in the home garden, https://extension.umn.edu/fruit/growing-grapes-home-garden: trunks, cordons, spurs, canes, buds, clusters and berries, shoots low on the trunk. (4) Wikipedia, text only: Vitis, Vine training and Annual growth cycle of grapevines: tendrils opposite the leaves, canes and spurs, cordons, buds between stem and petiole. (5) OpenStax Biology 2e, 30.2 Stems, 30.3 Roots and 30.4 Leaves: node, internode, petiole, tendril, what roots and leaves do. Licence: own work

The drawing: Drawn for this site on 2026-09-30 from plain geometry; nothing traced or copied. Licence: own work

How it works

These are the parts of a grapevine as growers name them. The top drawing is a vine on a trellis in summer. The bottom drawing is the same vine in winter: pruned on the left, not yet pruned on the right.

Read the full guide

Wood first, then green growth, then winter

Numbers 1 and 2 are the permanent wood: the trunk and a cordon. Numbers 3 to 7 grow new every year: the shoot, its leaves and petioles, a tendril and a fruit cluster. Numbers 8 and 9 are a sucker and the roots. Numbers 10 and 11 are on the winter vine: a spur and a cane. Numbers 12 to 14 are in the circle, a piece of cane enlarged: node, bud and internode.

A cane is last summer's shoot. Once its leaves fall and it turns brown and woody, growers call it a cane.
A spur is a cane cut short. Count the buds left on it: each can grow a shoot next season.

Questions and answers

What are the parts of a grape vine?

Roots, a trunk, and one or more cordons, the woody arms trained along a wire. From these grow green shoots, which carry the leaves, tendrils and fruit clusters. In winter the ripened shoots are called canes, and canes cut short are spurs.

What is the difference between a cane and a spur?

Both are one-year-old wood. A cane is a whole ripened shoot, long and with many buds. A spur is a cane that has been pruned back to a short stub with only a few buds.

What is a cordon on a grape vine?

A cordon is a woody arm that grows sideways from the top of the trunk and is tied along a trellis wire. It stays on the vine for many seasons, and the spurs sit along it.

What are the curly parts of a grape vine called?

Tendrils. A tendril is a thin growth on the shoot, opposite a leaf. It coils round a wire, a stake or another shoot and holds the vine up as it climbs.