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Vitis aestivalis
Also called Pigeon Grape, Arkansas Grape, Bunch Grape, Chicken Grape, Cynthiana Grape, Norton Grape, Rusty Grape
Summer grape is a vigorous North American native climbing vine that scrambles up trees and fences, valued for its fruit and as a parent of wine grapes. It grows best in well-drained upland soil, as it dislikes highly alkaline ground.
Vitis aestivalis, the summer grape, or pigeon grape is a species of grape native to eastern North America from southern Ontario east to Maine, west to Oklahoma, and south to Florida and Texas. It is a vigorous vine, growing to 10 m (33 ft) or more high on trees. The leaves are 7–20 cm (2.8–7.9 in) long, suborbicular, and usually a little broader than long; they are variable in shape, from unlobed to deeply three- or five-lobed, green above, and densely hairy below. The flowers are produced at every third node in a dense panicle 5–15 cm long. The fruit is a small grape 5–14 mm (0.20–0.55 in) diameter, dark purple or black in colour. It is the official state grape of Missouri. Summer grape prefers a drier upland habitat.
The four varieties are:
Several cultivars have been selected, including 'Norton', a cultivar with a substantial V. aestivalis background, which is believed to be the oldest American grape cultivar in commercial production.
Inter specific-hybrids made with the species V. aestivalis, such as Norton, have shown several useful traits for commercial wine production when compared with other North American native grape varieties. These traits include: lower acidity, neutral, "vinifera-like" flavour profile, good tannin structure, and excellent disease resistance.
Mapleleaf grape · Vitis adenoclada · Amur grape · Canyon grape · Vitis balansana · Vitis bellula · Autumn grape · Birch-leaf grape · Vitis blancoi · North China Grape · California wild grape · Champin's grape
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Vitis aestivalis by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
