Vitis Lincecumii

Vitis Lincecumii

Vitis aestivalis (Summer Grape) is a species of grape native to eastern North America from southern Ontario east to Vermont, west to Oklahoma, and south to Florida and Texas. It is a vigorous vine, growing to 10 m or more high in trees. The leaves are 7–20 cm 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 in a dense panicle 5–15 cm long. The fruit is a small grape 5–14 mm diameter, dark purple or black in color. It is the official state grape of Missouri.

There are four varieties:

• Vitis aestivalis var. aestivalis.
• Vitis aestivalis var. bicolor Deam (syn. var. argentifolia Fernald; Silverleaf Grape), formerly called Vitis bicolor, but now considered a northern variation of Vitis aestivalis. Native range is in the Northeastern United States and parts of Southern Ontario.
• Vitis aestivalis var. lincecumii (Buckley) Munson.
• Vitis aestivalis var. bourquiniana, native to the south, sometimes called Vitis bourquiniana, has tomentose undersides to the leaves.