Vitis aestivalis Michx.

Summer grape, grape

Some Vitis species

	You are here Vitis aestivalis	Vitis cinerea var. floridana	Vitis riparia
Common Name	summer grape	Simpson’s grape	riverbank grape
Plant	Vines become woody, and can reach 70′ (21 m) in length and 5″ (12 cm) in diameter.	Florida grape closely resembles summer grape (Vitis aestivalis). Vine branchlets are ⅛–¼″ (4–8 mm) wide, and angled.	These vines (technically, lianas) manage to climb their way up to 50′ (15 m) into trees or anything else it can wrap its forked tendrils around. Stems are smooth and green or dull reddish brown when young, becoming thick (up to 3″ (7.6 cm) around) and woody with age, with reddish, exfoliating bark.
Leaves	Alternate, 3–8″ (7.6–20 cm) in size, and highly variable in shape. Leaf undersides are glaucous. Leaf stems (petioles) are 3-5" long.	It has leaf blades 2–8″ (6–20 cm) in size, on petioles of roughly equal length. Leaf undersides are not glaucous.	With three and sometimes as many as seven lobes, with coarse teeth and forward-pointing lobes. They are alternate, and are 4–8 ⨉ 2½–6″ (10–20 ⨉ 7–15 cm). Lower leaf surfaces are covered with a bloom or fine hairs; upper leaves are shiny green.
Flowers	Dense greenish panicles, appearing Apr-Jun.	In panicles 4–10″ (10–25 cm) in size. Flowers are tiny, and yellowish green. Each one has 5 petals, 5 tiny sepals, and 5 stamens. They have a sweet floral scent. Flowers appear from May to June.	Yellowish-green, in loose spikes up to five inches long, appearing from May to July. Individual flowers are small and inconspicuous.
Fruit	Dark blue to black, somewhat glaucous, ¼–¾″ (8–20 mm) wide, in large clusters.	Grapes are black, not (or slightly) glaucous, and ⅛–¼″ (4–8 mm) in diameter.	Grape clusters are smaller in size than for many other grape species. The grapes are smaller too, ¼–½″ (6.3–12 mm) around, and black, with a strong “bloom” of blue. They appear from July to September. Each grape contains two to four seeds.
Range/ Zones
Habitats	Forests, shrublands or thickets, talus and rocky slopes, woodlands.	Floodplains, lowland woods, stream banks, marsh and pond margins.	Banks of rivers and streams, ravines, peninsulas and islands in lakes.

Vitis aestivalis description by Thomas H. Kent, not updated.

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