Vitis rupestris

Last updated

Vitis rupestris
Vitis rupestris Weinsberg 20071016.jpg
Status TNC G3.svg
Vulnerable  (NatureServe) [1]
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Vitales
Family: Vitaceae
Genus: Vitis
Species:
V. rupestris
Binomial name
Vitis rupestris
Scheele

Vitis rupestris is a species of grape native to the United States that is known by many common names including July, Coon, sand, sugar, beach, bush, currant, ingar, rock, and mountain grape. It is used for breeding several French-American hybrids as well as many root stocks.

Contents

Distribution and ecology

The natural distribution of Vitis rupestris is concentrated in the Ozark Hills of Missouri and Arkansas. The species is less common in scattered populations east as far as Pennsylvania and southwest into Oklahoma and Texas. There are a few reports of the species occurring in the San Francisco Bay area of California, but these are most likely escapes from cultivation. [2] [3] [4]

Vitis rupestris is a self-supporting bushy plant that does not grow in the shade, and is found only on rocky riverbanks and streambanks. Much of its habitat has been destroyed due to damming of rivers and destruction of islands for navigation. Vitis rupestris has been listed as threatened or endangered by Indiana, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee. [5] Known locations of wild Vitis rupestris are quickly disappearing, which may threaten the future of this grape species. [6]

It is found hybridized in parts of its range with the Riverbank grape and other Vitis species.

Botanical description

Growth is tapering, erect, much branched and rarely climbing more than 4 to 8 feet. The roots are slender, wiry and deep and enable it to resist drought by spreading deep underground to find the water table. [4]

Wood is smooth and red when young, becoming cylindrical and finely striated when mature with dark colored bark that becomes darker with age. Wood is quite persistent with age and dense but not hard. Buds are small, globose or slightly conical. Tendrils are small and crimson colored with short internodes. [4]

Leaves are lanceolate with large stipules with crimson veins. Petiole are deeply and broadly grooved throughout the length. Leaves are distinctly striated and nearly always smooth. Width of the leaves is usually 3" to 4", sometimes 5" . [4]

Clusters are very small, sometimes shouldered. Rachis is smooth and light green. Flowers are fertile, stamens recurved and bent laterally with flowers producing abundant pollen. [4] Fruits are 1/4" to 1/2" in diameter, round or slightly flattened around the stem and often doubled like two berries coalesced. The berries are black with little bloom, skin is very thin and tender and pulp is tender and melting. Pulp is deeply colored crimson or violet and part clings closely to the skin. [4] The berries bear 3 to 4 small seeds on clusters around 8" long. Germination is quick and fruit ripens early. The species is able to bear fruit on young shoots pushed out by 2 to 4 year old wood if last year's wood has been lost to winter damage. [4] It propagates easily from cuttings, and the pollen is very prepotent in fertilizing and hybridizing with other Vitis species. [4]

Pest and disease resistance

Has great resistance to drought due to its deep roots penetrating the water table. Where it is unable to do this though it is subject to injury. Foliage is well adapted to resisting fungus and insect attacks, although favored by many grazing mammals. Occasionally attacked by anthracnose but with minimal injury, and resistant to black rot, downy mildew and powdery mildew. [4]

Cultivars and hybrids

Widely used in hybridizing with other species (mostly Vitis vinifera and Vitis lincecumii) to produce disease resistant Hybrid grapes. The species was used extensively to produce varieties able to withstand Phylloxera on their own roots and withstand attacks of Downy mildew.

Breeders that used the species frequently include T.V. Munson, Albert Seibel (see: Seibel grapes), Joannes Seyve and Elmer Swenson (indirectly via hybridizing existing varieties containing 'Vitis rupestris'. 'Vitis rupestris' often contributes a large proportion of ancestries of 'French hybrid' grapes (or 'French direct producers') such as Seyval, although it was often overlooked in its homeland in favor of Vitis labrusca.

A large proportion of modern European "PIWI" varieties categorized as Vitis vinifera contain 'Vitis rupestris' background such as Solaris and Regent.

The cultivar known as Rupestris St. George has been widely used in breeding and as a root stock. A popular cultivar in Australia is Vitis vinifera 'Ganzin Glory', a hybrid of V. rupestris and V. vinifera, that does not fruit and is grown for its autumn foliage as an ornamental plant.

Related Research Articles

Phylloxera Species of insect that plagues grapevines.

Grape phylloxera is an insect pest of commercial grapevines worldwide, originally native to eastern North America. Grape phylloxera ; originally described in France as Phylloxera vastatrix; equated to the previously described Daktulosphaera vitifoliae, Phylloxera vitifoliae. The insect is commonly just called phylloxera.

Aurore (grape) Variety of grape

Aurore is a white complex hybrid grape variety produced by Albert Seibel and used for wine production mostly in the United States and Canada. Over a long lifetime Seibel produced many complex hybrid crosses of Vitis vinifera to American grapes. It is a cross of Seibel 788 and Seibel 29.

Seibel grapes are a group of wine grape varieties which originated with the work of Albert Seibel crossing European grape with American grape species to increase disease resistance. They were planted widely in France during the 1950s but have seen decline in recent years because French wine law prohibits hybrid grapes in appellation wine. The grapes are still commonly used as blending grapes in table wine and mass commercial wines. New Zealand, England, and Canada also have plantings of Seibel grapes.

<i>Vitis riparia</i> Species of grapevine

Vitis riparia Michx, with common names riverbank grape or frost grape, is a vine indigenous to North America. As a climbing or trailing vine, it is widely distributed across central and eastern Canada and the central and northeastern parts of the United States, from Quebec to Texas, and eastern Montana to Nova Scotia. There are reports of isolated populations in the northwestern USA, but these are probably naturalized. It is long-lived and capable of reaching into the upper canopy of the tallest trees. It produces dark fruit that are appealing to both birds and people, and has been used extensively in commercial viticulture as grafted rootstock and in hybrid grape breeding programs.

Vidal blanc Variety of grape

Vidal blanc is a white hybrid grape variety produced from the Vitis vinifera variety Ugni blanc and another hybrid variety, Rayon d'Or. It is a very winter-hardy variety that manages to produce high sugar levels in cold climates with moderate to high acidity.

Chelois Variety of grape

Chelois is a variety of hybrid grape used in the production of red wines. The fruit are small blue-black berries, which appear in compact, medium-sized clusters. Chelois is among the less hardy hybrids of red-wine grapes.

<i>Vitis amurensis</i> Species of grapevine

Vitis amurensis, the Amur grape, is a species of grape native to the Asian continent. Its name comes from the Amur Valley in Russia and China.

Hybrid grape Variety of grape

Hybrid grapes are grape varieties that are the product of a crossing of two or more Vitis species. This is in contrast to crossings between grape varieties of the same species, typically Vitis vinifera, the European grapevine. Hybrid grapes are also referred to as inter-specific crossings or "Modern Varieties." Due to their often excellent tolerance to powdery mildew, other fungal diseases, nematodes, and phylloxera, hybrid varieties have, to some extent, become a renewed focus for European breeding programs. The recently developed varieties, Rondo, and Regent are examples of newer hybrid grape varieties for European viticulturalists. Several North American breeding programs, such as those at Cornell and the University of Minnesota, focus exclusively on hybrid grapes, with active and successful programs, having created hundreds if not thousands of new varieties.

Villard grapes are French wine hybrid grape created by French horticulturist Bertille Seyve and his father-in-law Victor Villard. They include the dark skin Villard noir and the white-wine variety Villard blanc with both being members of the Seyve-Villard grape family. Villard noir is a cross of two other French hybrids, Siebel 6905 and Seibel 7053 created by physician and plant breeder Albert Seibel. Like Villard noir, Villard blanc was produced as a crossing of two Seibel grapes, in this case, Le Subereux and Seibel 6468.

Couderc noir is a red wine hybrid grape that was formerly grown primarily in the South West France wine region and around the Gard département in the Languedoc-Roussillon region. The vine produces high yields and ripens late, creating a wine that is deeply colored with a distinct, earthy flavor. Couderc noir is normally used for mass commercial and table wines.

<i>Plasmopara viticola</i> Species of single-celled organism

Plasmopara viticola, the causal agent of grapevine downy mildew, is a heterothallic oomycete that overwinters as oospores in leaf litter and soil. In the spring, oospores germinate to produce macrosporangia, which under wet condition release zoospores. Zoospores are splashed by rain into the canopy, where they swim to and infect through stomata. After 7–10 days, yellow lesions appear on foliage. During favorable weather, the lesions sporulate and new secondary infections occur.

<i>Vitis</i> Genus flowering plants in the grape family Vitaceae

Vitis (grapevines) is a genus of 79 accepted species of vining plants in the flowering plant family Vitaceae. The genus is made up of species predominantly from the Northern hemisphere. It is economically important as the source of grapes, both for direct consumption of the fruit and for fermentation to produce wine. The study and cultivation of grapevines is called viticulture.

This glossary of viticultural terms list some of terms and definitions involved in growing grapes for use in winemaking.

Cascade is a red complex hybrid grape variety that was created by French viticulturist Albert Seibel in the early 20th century in Aubenas, Ardèche, in the Rhône Valley. It has been commercially available in North America since 1938 and has since been planted in Canada and the United States. However, in warmer climates the grape is highly susceptible to a number of grapevine viruses, which has discouraged plantings of the variety.

Ravat blanc is a white hybrid grape variety that is a crossing of Chardonnay and a Seibel grape. While the Vitis International Variety Catalogue (VIVC) maintained by the Geilweilerhof Institute for Grape Breeding list Seibel 5474 as the second parent, Master of Wine Jancis Robinson notes that other authors list Seibel 8724 as the parent. The grape is often confused with the white hybrid grape Vignoles that is often called just Ravat.

Seyval noir is a red hybrid grape variety that was created in the late 19th century by French horticulturalist Bertille Seyve and his father-in-law Victor Villard from a crossing of two Seibel grapes. The pair used the same two variety to create the white wine grape Seyval blanc making the two siblings rather than color mutations of one or the other. The name Seyval comes from a combination of the two men's names.

Muscat bleu Variety of grape

Muscat bleu is a red Swiss wine and table grape variety that is a hybrid of Garnier 15-6 and Perle noire. The grape was developed in Peissy in the Canton of Geneva by Swiss grape breeder Charles Garnier in the 1930s. Today the grape is used as both a table grape and for winemaking, producing wines that Master of Wine Jancis Robinson describe as "soft and grapey". Outside Switzerland some plantings of Muscat bleu can also be found in Belgium.

LAcadie blanc Variety of grape

L'Acadie blanc is a white Canadian wine grape variety that is a hybrid crossing of Cascade and Seyve-Villard 14-287. The grape was created in 1953 by grape breeder Ollie A. Bradt in Niagara, Ontario at the Vineland Horticultural Research Station which is now the Vineland Research and Innovation Centre. Today the grape is widely planted in Nova Scotia with some plantings in Quebec and Ontario. Some wine writers, including those at Appellation America, consider L'Acadie blanc as "Nova Scotia’s equivalent to Chardonnay".

Vitis Ornamental Grape

Vitis 'Ornamental Grape', also known as ornamental grapevine, Ganzin glory, glory vine and crimson glory, is a nonfruiting ornamental plant that is a hybrid of Vitis vinifera and Vitis rupestris.

References

  1. Vitis rupestris NatureServe
  2. Biota of North America Program 2014 county distribution map
  3. Calflora taxon report, University of California, Vitis rupestris Scheele sand grape
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Munson, T.V. 1909. Foundations of American Grape Culture. New York: Orange Judd Company.
  5. "PLANTS Profile for Vitis rupestris (sand grape) | USDA PLANTS" . Retrieved 14 March 2012.
  6. Becker, Hank; et al. "Why In Situ?". USDA. Retrieved 14 March 2012.