Vitis aestivalis

Pigeon grape
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Vitales
Family: Vitaceae
Genus: Vitis
Species:
V. aestivalis
Binomial name
Vitis aestivalis

Vitis aestivalis, the summer grape,[1] or pigeon grape[2] is a species of grape native to eastern North America from southern Ontario east to Maine, west to Oklahoma, and south to Florida and Texas.[3][4] It is a vigorous vine, growing to 10 m or more high in trees. The leaves are 7–20 cm long, suborbicular, and usually a little broader than long; they are variable in shape, from unlobed to deeply three- or five-lobed, green above, and densely hairy below. The flowers are produced at every 3rd node[2] in a dense panicle 5–15 cm long. The fruit is a small grape 5–14 mm diameter, dark purple or black in colour.[5] It is the official state grape of Missouri.[6] Summer grape prefers a drier upland habitat.[2]

The four varieties are:[3]

  • V. a. var. aestivalis
  • V. a. var. bicolor Deam (syn. var. argentifolia Fernald; Silverleaf Grape), formerly called Vitis bicolor, but now considered a northern variation of Vitis aestivalis, native range is in the Northeastern United States and parts of Southern Ontario
  • V. a. var. lincecumii (Buckley) Munson
  • V. a. var. bourquiniana L.H. Bailey, native to the south, sometimes called Vitis bourquiniana, has tomentose undersides to the leaves
  1. ^ USDA, NRCS (n.d.). "​Vitis aestivalis​". The PLANTS Database (plants.usda.gov). Greensboro, North Carolina: National Plant Data Team. Retrieved 6 August 2015.
  2. ^ a b c Rhoads, Block (5 September 2007). The Plants of Pennsylvania (2 ed.). University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 978-0-8122-4003-0.
  3. ^ a b "Vitis aestivalis". Germplasm Resources Information Network. Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture. Retrieved 15 December 2017.
  4. ^ Biota of North America Program 2014 county distribution map
  5. ^ Oklahoma University: Vitis aestivalis
  6. ^ http://www.moga.mo.gov/statutes/chapters/chap010.htm [dead link]