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Southern Wetland Flora

Field Office Guide to Plant Species

Muscadine Grape
Vitis rotundifolia Michx.

JPG -- Species Photo GIF -- Distribution Map

Family: Grape (Vitaceae)
Flowering: March-April
Field Marks: This grape differs from all others by its unbranched tendrils and its unpartitioned pith. The leaves are smooth except sometimes for a few hairs on the lower surface.
Habitat: Stream banks, bayheads, hammocks, dunes, fencerows, thickets, swamps, moist or dry soils in woods, bottomlands.
Habit: High-climbing woody vine with unbranched tendrils, the bark not becoming shredded with age.
Stems: Hairy and with conspicuous lenticels when young, becoming smooth when older; pith not partitioned.
Leaves: Alternate, simple, orbicular to ovate in outline, pointed at the tip, heart-shaped at the base, coarsely toothed but rarely lobed, smooth on the upper surface, smooth or sparsely hairy on the lower surface, up to 4 inches long, nearly as wide.
Flowers: Many, small, arranged in short panicles up to 4 inches long; male and female flowers usually separate, usually borne on separate plants.
Sepals: Minute, green, not divided into lobes.
Petals: 4, greenish white, free from each other, although often appearing to be attached at the tip.
Stamens: 3-9.
Pistils: Ovary superior.
Fruits: Berries spherical, purple or black, sometimes nearly up to 1 inch in diameter, usually less than 12 in a cluster; seeds ellipsoid, brown, up to 1/3 inch long.
Notes: The berries are exceptionally sweet and can be eaten in a number of ways. This grape may send out drooping aerial branches when growing in areas that are frequently flooded.

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Page Last Modified: Thursday, 03-Aug-2006 11:39:25 EDT
Menlo Park, CA [caww55]