Vitis riparia Michx, also commonly known as
River Bank Grape or
Frost Grape, is a native
AmericanNorth America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and in the western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific...
climbing or trailing
vineThe term vine may refer to a climbing or trailing plant. The word, derived from Latin vīnea, in the original sense referred to the grapevines . The modern extended sense is mostly restricted to North American English, which uses "grapevine" to refer to the grape-bearing Vitis species...
, widely distributed from
QuebecQuebec is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking identity and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
to
TexasTexas is the second-largest U.S. state in both area and population, and the largest state in the contiguous United States.The name had wide usage among native Americans, meaning "friends" or "allies"...
, and
MontanaMontana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of the state contains numerous mountain ranges; other 'island' ranges are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
to
New EnglandNew England is a region of the United States. It is located at the northeastern corner of the US, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean, Canada and the state of New York, consisting of the modern U.S...
. It is long-lived and capable of reaching into the upper
canopyIn biology, the canopy is the aboveground portion of a plant community or crop, formed by plant crowns.For forests, canopy also refers to the upper layer or habitat zone, formed by mature tree crowns and including other biological organisms .Sometimes the term canopy is used to refer to the extent...
of the tallest
treeA tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...
s. It produces dark fruit that are appealing to both birds and people, and has been used extensively in commercial viticulture as
grafted
Grafting is a method of asexual plant propagation widely used in agriculture and horticulture where the tissues of one plant are encouraged to fuse with those of another. It is most commonly used for the propagation of trees and shrubs grown commercially.In most cases, one plant is selected...
rootstockA rootstock is a plant, and sometimes just the stump, which already has an established, healthy root system, used for grafting a cutting or budding from another plant. The tree part being grafted onto the rootstock is usually called the scion...
and in hybrid grape breeding programs.
Mature
vineThe term vine may refer to a climbing or trailing plant. The word, derived from Latin vīnea, in the original sense referred to the grapevines . The modern extended sense is mostly restricted to North American English, which uses "grapevine" to refer to the grape-bearing Vitis species...
s have loose, fissured
barkBark is the outermost layers of stems and roots of woody plants. Plants with bark include trees, woody vines and shrubs. Bark refers to all the tissues outside of the vascular cambium and is a nontechnical term. It overlays the wood and consists of the inner bark and the outer bark. The inner...
, and may attain several inches in diameter.
Vitis riparia Michx, also commonly known as
River Bank Grape or
Frost Grape, is a native
AmericanNorth America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and in the western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific...
climbing or trailing
vineThe term vine may refer to a climbing or trailing plant. The word, derived from Latin vīnea, in the original sense referred to the grapevines . The modern extended sense is mostly restricted to North American English, which uses "grapevine" to refer to the grape-bearing Vitis species...
, widely distributed from
QuebecQuebec is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking identity and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
to
TexasTexas is the second-largest U.S. state in both area and population, and the largest state in the contiguous United States.The name had wide usage among native Americans, meaning "friends" or "allies"...
, and
MontanaMontana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of the state contains numerous mountain ranges; other 'island' ranges are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
to
New EnglandNew England is a region of the United States. It is located at the northeastern corner of the US, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean, Canada and the state of New York, consisting of the modern U.S...
. It is long-lived and capable of reaching into the upper
canopyIn biology, the canopy is the aboveground portion of a plant community or crop, formed by plant crowns.For forests, canopy also refers to the upper layer or habitat zone, formed by mature tree crowns and including other biological organisms .Sometimes the term canopy is used to refer to the extent...
of the tallest
treeA tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...
s. It produces dark fruit that are appealing to both birds and people, and has been used extensively in commercial viticulture as
grafted
Grafting is a method of asexual plant propagation widely used in agriculture and horticulture where the tissues of one plant are encouraged to fuse with those of another. It is most commonly used for the propagation of trees and shrubs grown commercially.In most cases, one plant is selected...
rootstockA rootstock is a plant, and sometimes just the stump, which already has an established, healthy root system, used for grafting a cutting or budding from another plant. The tree part being grafted onto the rootstock is usually called the scion...
and in hybrid grape breeding programs.
Description
Mature
vineThe term vine may refer to a climbing or trailing plant. The word, derived from Latin vīnea, in the original sense referred to the grapevines . The modern extended sense is mostly restricted to North American English, which uses "grapevine" to refer to the grape-bearing Vitis species...
s have loose, fissured
barkBark is the outermost layers of stems and roots of woody plants. Plants with bark include trees, woody vines and shrubs. Bark refers to all the tissues outside of the vascular cambium and is a nontechnical term. It overlays the wood and consists of the inner bark and the outer bark. The inner...
, and may attain several inches in diameter. Leaves are alternate, often with opposite
tendrilIn botany, a tendril is a specialized stem, leaf or petiole with a threadlike shape that is used by climbing plants for support and attachment, generally by twining around whatever it touches. They do not have a lamina or blade, but they can photosynthesize...
s or inflorescences, coarsely toothed, 5–25 cm (2–10in) long and 5–20 cm (2–8in) broad, sometimes with sparse hairs on the underside of
veinIn the circulatory system, veins are blood vessels that carry blood toward the heart. Most veins carry deoxygenated blood from the tissues back to the heart; exceptions are the pulmonary and umbilical veins, both of which carry oxygenated blood...
s.
The
inflorescenceAn inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Strictly, it is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed and which is accordingly modified...
is
paniculateA panicle is a compound raceme, a loose, much-branched indeterminate inflorescence with pedicellate flowers attached along the secondary branches ....
4–15 cm (1.5–6 in) long and loose, and the
flowerA flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to mediate the union of male sperm with female ovum in order to produce seeds...
s are small, fragrant,
dioeciousDioecious species are whose members can produce only one type of gamete; each individual organism belonging to a dioecious species is distinctly male or female . The majority of animal species are dioecious...
, and white or greenish in color.
V. riparia blooms in May or June and produces a small 6–15 mm blue-black
berryThe botanical definition of a berry is a simple fruit produced from a single ovary, such as a grape or a tomato. The berry is the most common type of fleshy fruit in which the entire ovary wall ripens into an edible pericarp. The flowers of these plants have a superior ovary formed by the fusion of...
(
grapeA grape is the non-climacteric fruit, botanically a true berry, that grows on the perennial and deciduous woody vines of the genus Vitis. Grapes can be eaten raw or used for making jam, juice, jelly, vinegar, wine, grape seed extracts, raisins, and grape seed oil...
) with a bloom, seeded, juicy, edible, vinous in flavor, lacking the "foxy" characteristics of
Vitis labruscaVitis labrusca is a species of grape native to the eastern United States. It is the source of many grape cultivars, including Concord grapes. It is characteristic of this vine to have tendrils form on every node of the cane . This is in contrast to the European wine grape Vitis vinifera. The...
, but usually quite sour and
herbaceousA herbaceous plant is a plant that has leaves and stems that die down at the end of the growing season to the soil level. They have no persistent woody stem above ground...
.
V. riparia has a wide range and may deviate considerably in detail from the above general description. White berries, perfect flowers, large clusters, large berries, and sweet fruit are among the known variations. However, some observers consider such variations as evidence of natural hybridization with other species of
grapeA grape is the non-climacteric fruit, botanically a true berry, that grows on the perennial and deciduous woody vines of the genus Vitis. Grapes can be eaten raw or used for making jam, juice, jelly, vinegar, wine, grape seed extracts, raisins, and grape seed oil...
s.
Habitat
V. riparia has the largest geographical range of any of the North American
VitisVitis is a genus of about 60 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...
species. It is present across nearly the entire eastern half of North America, excepting the far south and the most western portions of the
great plainsThe Great Plains are the broad expanse of prairie and steppe which lie west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains in the United States and Canada. This area covers parts of the U.S...
. Variants of the species have been observed as far north as
Riding Mountain National ParkRiding Mountain National Park is a national park in Manitoba, Canada. The park sits atop the highest part of the Manitoba Escarpment. Consisting of a protected area , the forested parkland stands in sharp contrast to the surrounding prairie farmland. The park is home to wolves, moose, elk, black...
in
ManitobaManitoba is a prairie province in Canada and has an area of . Manitoba is bordered by the provinces of Ontario to the east and Saskatchewan to the west, the territory of Nunavut to the north, and the U.S. states of North Dakota and Minnesota to the south...
,
CanadaCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and as far west as
MontanaMontana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of the state contains numerous mountain ranges; other 'island' ranges are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
,
NebraskaNebraska is a state located on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. The state's capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha....
, and
North DakotaNorth Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America; on the Canadian border halfway between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. North Dakota is the 19th largest state by area in the U.S.; it is the 3
rd least populous, with just over 641,481 residents as...
.
In the wild, the vine thrives along exposed areas with good sun exposure and adequate soil moisture, such as riverbanks, forest clearings, fence lines and along road sides. The species has adapted to a variety of soil chemistries.
Cold hardiness and disease resistance
Some
V. riparia vines have been known to withstand temperatures of up to -57 °
CCelsius is a temperature scale that is named after the Swedish astronomer Anders Celsius , who developed a similar temperature scale two years before his death...
(−70 °
FFahrenheit is the temperature scale proposed in 1724 by, and named after, the physicist Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit . Today, the scale has been replaced by the Celsius scale in most countries; it is still in use for non-scientific purposes in the United States and a few other nations, such as...
). The foliage is typically resistant to
mildewMildew refers to certain kinds of mold or fungus. In Old English, it meant honeydew , and later came to mean mildew in the modern sense....
and
black rotGrape black rot, Guignardia bidwellii, is an ascomycetous fungus and fungal disease that attacks grape vines, especially during hot and humid weather. The name comes from the black fringe that borders growing brown patches on the leaves. The disease also attacks other parts of the plant.-...
, and the roots resistant to
phylloxeraGrape phylloxera , commonly just called Phylloxera , is a pest of commercial grapevines worldwide, originally native to eastern North America...
. The berries however, are often sensitive to mildew and black rot if the vine is exposed to prolonged wet and humid conditions.
Uses
Perhaps the most significant agricultural usage of
V. riparia is as grafted
rootstockA rootstock is a plant, and sometimes just the stump, which already has an established, healthy root system, used for grafting a cutting or budding from another plant. The tree part being grafted onto the rootstock is usually called the scion...
for
Vitis viniferaFor the town in Australia, see Vinifera, VictoriaVitis vinifera is a species of Vitis, native to the Mediterranean region, central Europe, and southwestern Asia, from Morocco and Spain north to southern Germany and east to northern Iran.It is a liana growing to 35 m tall, with flaky bark...
. Important advantages of the use of
V. riparia (and hybrids between it and other
VitisVitis is a genus of about 60 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...
species) include resistance to
phylloxeraGrape phylloxera , commonly just called Phylloxera , is a pest of commercial grapevines worldwide, originally native to eastern North America...
and adaptation to variant soil types.
Due to the extensive cold hardiness and fungal disease resistance of this species, it has been used extensively in
grape breedingViticulture is the science, production and study of grapes which deals with the series of events that occur in the vineyard. When the grapes are used for winemaking, it is also known as viniculture...
programs to transfer cold hardy and disease resistant
genesGênes is the name of a département of the First French Empire in present Italy. It was named after the city Genoa. It was formed in 1805, when Napoleon Bonaparte occupied the Republic of Genoa. Its capital was Genoa. It was divided into the arrondissements of Genoa, Bobbio, Novi Ligure, Tortona and...
to domesticated grapes. The French-American
hybrid grapesHybrid grapes refer commonly to those grape varieties which are the product of a crossing between two or more different Vitis species. This is in contrast to crossings between grape varieties of the same species, typically Vitis vinifera, the European grapevine...
are notable examples of these attempts.
V. riparia has been used extensively for over a hundred years to create hardy hybrids. Many
V. riparia hybrids are currently being used and investigated by plant breeders and in breeding programs such as those conducted by the
University of MinnesotaThe University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States...
's horticulture program in an effort to make a commercially viable wine grape that can survive the northern climate of the
Upper MidwestThe Upper Midwest is a perceived region of the United States with no universally agreed-upon boundary, but it almost always lies within the US Census Bureau's definition of the Midwest and includes the states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, and Indiana...
. Examples of commercially important cultivars with significant
V. Riparia ancestry include
Baco noirBaco noir is a hybrid red wine grape variety produced from a cross of Vitis vinifera var. and an unknown variety of Vitis riparia...
,
Marechal FochMarechal Foch , is an inter-specific hybrid red wine grape variety. It was named after the French marshal Ferdinand Foch , who played an important role in the negotiation of the armistice terms during the closing of the First World War. It was developed in Alsace, France by grape hybridizer...
, and Frontenac.
While
V. riparia shares many important characteristics with its cousin,
Vitis viniferaFor the town in Australia, see Vinifera, VictoriaVitis vinifera is a species of Vitis, native to the Mediterranean region, central Europe, and southwestern Asia, from Morocco and Spain north to southern Germany and east to northern Iran.It is a liana growing to 35 m tall, with flaky bark...
, the small size of the berry (making it prone to predation by birds), the high acidity of its fruit (often up to 5%
titratable acidityAn acid-base titration is the determination of the concentration of an acid or base by exactly neutralizing the acid/base with an acid or base of known concentration. This allows for quantitative analysis of the concentration of an unknown acid or base solution...
), the intense pigment of its juice, and the presence of
herbaceousA herbaceous plant is a plant that has leaves and stems that die down at the end of the growing season to the soil level. They have no persistent woody stem above ground...
aromas in wine produced from it have made it unusable on its own for commercial viticulture.
V. riparia is sometimes used to make flavorful homemade
jelliesThe most common culinary use for gelatin is as a main ingredient in varieties of gelatin desserts. Unprepared gelatin for desserts is often marketed as a flavored powder or concentrated gelatinous solid. Prepared gelatin desserts are marketed in a variety of forms...
, jams, and
wineWine is an alcoholic beverage typically made of fermented grape juice. The natural chemical balance of grapes is such that they can ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes or other nutrients. Wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast consumes...
.