The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
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chicken grape, fox grape, frost grape, vigne des renards, wild grape, winter grape

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

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

bark exfoliating in shreds;

nodal diaphragms 1–2.5 mm thick;

branchlets gray to green or brown, if purplish only on one side, terete, glabrous, growing tips not 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 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.

Leaves

stipules 1.5–3 mm;

petiole ± equaling blade;

blade cordate, (5–)9–18 cm, usually unlobed or shallowly 3-lobed, sometimes deeply lobed on ground shoots, apex acute to short acuminate, abaxial surface not glaucous, glabrous, visible, veins and vein axils sometimes hirtellous, adaxial surface usually glabrous, sometimes sparsely hirtellous.

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.

Inflorescences

9–19 cm.

(4–)9–12 cm.

Flowers

functionally unisexual.

functionally unisexual.

Berries

black, usually not, sometimes very slightly, 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 vulpina

Vitis riparia

Phenology Flowering May; fruiting Jul–Aug. Flowering Apr–Jun; fruiting Aug–Sep.
Habitat Upland forests, floodplain forests, woodland borders, prairies, fencerows, thickets, roadsides. Stream and riverbanks, pond margins, alluvial woodlands, ravines, thickets, roadsides, fencerows.
Elevation 0–2000 m. (0–6600 ft.) 0–2200 m. (0–7200 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; DC; DE; FL; GA; IA; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MD; MI; MO; MS; NC; NE; NJ; NY; OH; OK; PA; SC; SD; TN; TX; VA; WV; ON
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
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]
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. 15. 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. riparia, V. rotundifolia, V. rupestris, V. shuttleworthii, V. vinifera, V. ×champinii, V. ×doaniana, V. ×novae-angliae
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
Synonyms V. cordifolia, V. cordifolia var. sempervirens, V. illex, V. pullaria V. cordifolia var. riparia, V. riparia var. syrticola, V. vulpina subsp. riparia, V. vulpina var. syrticola
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 203. (1753) Michaux: Fl. Bor.-Amer. 2: 231. (1803)
Web links