The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

frost grape, river grape, river-bank grape, vigne de rivages

bush or panhandle or mapleleaf grape, mapleleaf grape

Habit Plants usually moderate to high climbing, sometimes sprawling, sparsely branched. Plants low to moderately high climbing, much branched.
Branches

bark exfoliating in shreds;

nodal diaphragms to 0.5 mm thick;

branchlets terete, glabrous or sparsely hirtellous, growing tips enveloped by unfolding leaves, glabrous or sparsely hairy;

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

nodes not red-banded.

bark tardily exfoliating in plates;

nodal diaphragms to 0.5(–1) mm thick;

branchlets terete, whitish arachnoid or glabrate, growing tips enveloped by unfolding leaves, sparsely to densely hairy;

tendrils along length of branchlets, soon deciduous if not attached to support, branched, tendrils (or inflorescences) at only 2 consecutive nodes;

nodes not red-banded.

Leaves

stipules 3–5 mm;

petiole 1/2 to ± equaling blade;

blade cordate, 6–20 cm, 3-shouldered to shallowly 3-lobed, apex short acuminate, abaxial surface not glaucous, glabrate, visible through hairs, veins and vein axils hirtellous, adaxial surface glabrous.

stipules 3–6 mm;

petiole 1/2–2/3 blade;

blade broadly cordate, 7–12 cm, usually 3-shouldered to shallowly 3-lobed, apex usually short acuminate, abaxial surface not glaucous, sparsely arachnoid to glabrate, visible through hairs, veins sparsely hirtellous, adaxial surface slightly arachnoid to glabrate.

Inflorescences

(4–)9–12 cm.

3–7(–9) cm.

Flowers

functionally unisexual.

functionally unisexual.

Berries

black, heavily glaucous, globose, 8–12 mm diam., skin separating from pulp;

lenticels absent.

black, heavily glaucous, globose, 8–12 mm diam., skin separating from pulp;

lenticels absent.

2n

= 38.

= 38.

Vitis riparia

Vitis acerifolia

Phenology Flowering Apr–Jun; fruiting Aug–Sep. Flowering Apr–May; fruiting Jul–Aug.
Habitat Stream and riverbanks, pond margins, alluvial woodlands, ravines, thickets, roadsides, fencerows. Stream and riverbanks, prairie ravines, alluvial floodplain woodlands, dunes, rocky slopes, fencerows.
Elevation 0–2200 m. (0–7200 ft.) 200–2300 m. (700–7500 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; CO; CT; DC; IA; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MS; MT; NC; ND; NE; NH; NJ; NM; NY; OH; OK; OR; PA; RI; SD; TN; TX; VA; VT; WA; WI; WV; WY; MB; NB; NS; ON; QC; SK
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CO; KS; NM; OK; TX
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Vitis riparia is native throughout much of its range. It has become naturalized in a few locations in Saskatchewan, Oregon, and Washington. Plants on dunes around the Great Lakes with hairier petioles and leaf blades sometimes have been recognized as var. syrticola; variation in hairiness is essentially continuous, however, and the form is not worthy of taxonomic recognition (P. M. Catling and G. Mitrow 2005).

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

Source FNA vol. 12, p. 11. FNA vol. 12, p. 11.
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. palmata, V. rotundifolia, V. rupestris, V. shuttleworthii, V. vinifera, V. vulpina, V. ×champinii, V. ×doaniana, V. ×novae-angliae
V. aestivalis, V. arizonica, V. californica, V. cinerea, 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
Synonyms V. cordifolia var. riparia, V. riparia var. syrticola, V. vulpina subsp. riparia, V. vulpina var. syrticola V. cordifolia var. solonis, V. longii, V. longii var. microsperma, V. nuevomexicana, V. solonis, V. solonis var. microsperma
Name authority Michaux: Fl. Bor.-Amer. 2: 231. (1803) Rafinesque: Med. Fl. 2: 130, plate 99, fig. C. (1830)
Web links