Flora of North America species comparison

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Vitis rotundifolia

Vitis cinerea

muscadine, scuppernong

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

branchlets terete to slightly angled, usually sparsely grayish arachnoid, glabrescent, growing tips not enveloped by unfolding leaves;

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

nodes sometimes 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 1–2 mm;

petiole mostly ± equaling blade;

blade cordate to nearly reniform, 2–12 cm, rarely lobed, apex short acuminate, abaxial surface not glaucous, glabrous, visible through hairs, veins and vein axils sometimes sparsely to densely 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

3–8(–10) cm.

10–25 cm.
Flowers

functionally unisexual.

functionally unisexual.
Berries

usually black or purplish, sometimes bronze when ripe, glaucous, globose, 8–25 mm diam., skin separating from pulp;

lenticels present.

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

Vitis rotundifolia

Vitis cinerea
Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; DE; FL; GA; KY; LA; MD; MO; MS; NC; OK; SC; TN; TX; VA; WV
[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

Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).

(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 15–25 mm diam., usually 2–8 per infructescence; seeds 9+ mm.
var. rotundifolia
1. Berries 8–12 mm diam., 12–30 per infructescence; seeds to 6 mm.
var. munsoniana
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. 7. FNA vol. 12, p. 13.
Parent taxa Vitaceae > Vitis > subg. Muscadinia 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. riparia, 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. rotundifolia var. munsoniana, V. rotundifolia var. rotundifolia
V. cinerea var. baileyana, V. cinerea var. cinerea, V. cinerea var. floridana, V. cinerea var. helleri
Synonyms Muscadinia rotundifolia V. aestivalis var. cinerea
Name authority Michaux: Fl. Bor.-Amer. 2: 231. (1803) (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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