Flora of North America species comparison

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Vitis palmata

Vitis cinerea

catbird grape, red grape

downy or sweet winter or graybark grape, graybark grape, parra silvestre, sweet grape
Habit Plants high climbing, sparsely branched. Plants high climbing, sparsely branched.
Branches

bark exfoliating in shreds;

nodal diaphragms 2.5–4 mm thick;

branchlets uniformly red, purplish red, or chestnut, subterete, glabrous or very sparsely arachnoid, growing tips not enveloped by unfolding leaves;

tendrils red-pigmented when young, along length of branchlets, persistent, branched, tendrils (or inflorescences) at only 2 consecutive nodes;

nodes not red-banded.

bark exfoliating in shreds;

nodal diaphragms 1.5–3.5 mm thick;

branchlets slightly to distinctly angled, densely hirtellous and/or sparsely to densely arachnoid, to glabrate, growing tips not enveloped by unfolding leaves;

tendrils along length of branchlets, persistent, branched, tendrils (or inflorescences) at only 2 consecutive nodes;

nodes sometimes red-banded.
Leaves

stipules 1.5–3 mm;

petiole somewhat shorter than blade;

blade usually cordate, 8–14 cm, usually deeply 3(–5)-lobed, apex long acuminate, abaxial surface not glaucous, glabrous, visible, veins and vein axils sometimes hirtellous, adaxial surface glabrous.

stipules 1–3 mm;

petiole ± equaling blade;

blade cordate, 6–20 cm, usually unlobed to 3-shouldered, sometimes 3-lobed, apex acute to acuminate, abaxial surface not glaucous, sparsely to densely arachnoid or glabrous, visible through hairs, veins and vein axils hirtellous, adaxial surface glabrous or hairy.
Inflorescences

6–18 cm.

10–25 cm.
Flowers

functionally unisexual.

functionally unisexual.
Berries

bluish black to black, slightly or not glaucous, globose, 8–10 mm diam., skin separating from pulp;

lenticels absent.

black, slightly or not glaucous, globose, 4–8 mm diam., skin separating from pulp, lenticels absent.
2n

= 38.

Vitis palmata

Vitis cinerea
Phenology Flowering mid Jun–early Jul; fruiting Aug–Oct.
Habitat Riverbanks, sloughs, alluvial floodplain woodlands.
Elevation 0–200 m. (0–700 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; FL; GA; IL; IN; KY; LA; MO; MS; OK; TN; TX
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AL; AR; FL; GA; IA; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MD; MO; MS; NC; NE; OH; OK; PA; SC; TN; TX; VA; WV; ne Mexico
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Reports of Vitis palmata from Virginia (for example, in A. S. Weakley et al. 2012) appear to be based on misidentified material of V. vulpina with somewhat lobed leaves.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Varieties 5 (4 in the flora).

Vitis cinerea var. tomentosa (Planchon) Comeaux is endemic to northeastern Mexico (B. L. Comeaux and J. Lu 2000).

Vitis cinerea is sometimes confused with V. aestivalis; see the discussion under that species. Vitis cinerea as defined here is highly variable and is in need of field studies and phylogeographic analysis, along with its tropical relatives V. biforma Rose and V. tiliifolia. Wan Y. et al. (2013) concluded that V. cinerea is not monophyletic.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Berries moderately to heavily glaucous; leaf blade abaxial surface sparsely hirtellous and arachnoid or glabrate.
var. helleri
1. Berries slightly glaucous; leaf blade abaxial surface sparsely to densely arachnoid, sparsely to moderately hirtellous, or glabrous.
→ 2
2. Branchlets densely hirtellous and arachnoid; leaf blade abaxial surface moderately arachnoid and hirtellous.
var. cinerea
2. Branchlets sparsely to densely arachnoid, not evidently hirtellous; leaf blade abaxial surface sparsely to densely arachnoid, not, or sometimes very sparsely, hirtellous.
→ 3
3. Branchlets sparsely to densely arachnoid; nodes usually not red-banded, sometimes so; leaf blade abaxial surface sparsely to densely arachnoid; se Coastal Plain.
var. floridana
3. Branchlets sparsely arachnoid, becoming glabrate; nodes usually red-banded; leaf abaxial surface glabrous or sparsely arachnoid; Piedmont and mountains.
var. baileyana
Source FNA vol. 12, p. 15. FNA vol. 12, p. 13.
Parent taxa Vitaceae > Vitis > subg. Vitis Vitaceae > Vitis > subg. Vitis
Sibling taxa
V. acerifolia, V. aestivalis, V. arizonica, V. californica, V. cinerea, V. girdiana, V. labrusca, V. monticola, V. mustangensis, V. riparia, V. rotundifolia, V. rupestris, V. shuttleworthii, V. vinifera, V. vulpina, V. ×champinii, V. ×doaniana, V. ×novae-angliae
V. acerifolia, V. aestivalis, V. arizonica, V. californica, V. girdiana, V. labrusca, V. monticola, V. mustangensis, V. palmata, V. riparia, V. rotundifolia, V. rupestris, V. shuttleworthii, V. vinifera, V. vulpina, V. ×champinii, V. ×doaniana, V. ×novae-angliae
Subordinate taxa
V. cinerea var. baileyana, V. cinerea var. cinerea, V. cinerea var. floridana, V. cinerea var. helleri
Synonyms V. rubra V. aestivalis var. cinerea
Name authority Vahl: Symb. Bot. 3: 42. (1794) (Engelmann) Millardet: Mém. Soc. Sci. Phys. Nat. Bordeaux, sér. 2, 3: 319, 336. (1880)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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