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enable glossary links

cultivated grape, European grape, grape of commerce, wine grape

downy or sweet winter or graybark grape, graybark grape, parra silvestre, sweet grape

Habit Plants sprawling to moderately high climbing, sparsely branched. Plants high climbing, sparsely branched.
Branches

bark exfoliating in shreds or plates;

nodal diaphragms 3–5 mm thick;

branchlets terete to slightly angled, pubescent, sometimes glabrescent, growing tips not enveloped by unfolding leaves;

tendrils along length of branchlets, persistent, 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 usually more than 3.5 mm;

petiole ± equaling blade;

blade cordate-ovate to cordate-orbiculate, 12–20 cm, usually 3-shouldered to 3–5-lobed, sometimes deeply so, apex acute to short acuminate, abaxial surface not glaucous, sparsely pubescent to glabrate, visible through hairs, adaxial surface usually 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

10–20 cm.

10–25 cm.

Flowers

bisexual.

functionally unisexual.

Berries

usually reddish purple to nearly black, sometimes yellow-green, ± glaucous, oblong to ellipsoid, 8–25 mm diam., skin adhering to pulp;

lenticels absent.

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

2n

= 38, 76.

Vitis vinifera

Vitis cinerea

Phenology Flowering Apr–Jun; fruiting Jul–Sep.
Habitat Riparian areas, disturbed sites.
Elevation 0–1200 m. (0–3900 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; ID; MA; NH; NY; OR; PA; WA; BC; Europe [Introduced in North America]
[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

Vitis vinifera and cultivars formed by hybridization between it and native North American species or through selection are cultivated in Europe, many parts of the United States and southern Canada, and parts of Central and South America, Africa, Asia, and Australia; these have been reported persisting from cultivation (for example, in California, Utah, and Virginia) and occasionally escaping. Some specimens keying here may represent naturally occurring hybrids between native species and V. vinifera or its hybrid cultivars.

(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. 8. 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. palmata, V. riparia, V. rotundifolia, V. rupestris, V. shuttleworthii, 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. aestivalis var. cinerea
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 202. (1753) (Engelmann) Millardet: Mém. Soc. Sci. Phys. Nat. Bordeaux, sér. 2, 3: 319, 336. (1880)
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