Vine not very vigorous, a slender grower, usually running on the ground or over low bushes. Canes slightly angular; internodes short; tendrils intermittent, simple. Leaves smaller and thinner than Rotundifolia and rather more circular in outline; not lobed; teeth rather open and spreading; petiolar sinus V-shaped; both surfaces smooth, rather light green. Cluster with more berries but about the same size as Rotundifolia. Berry one-third to one-half the diameter, with thinner and more tender skin; black, shining; pulp less solid, more acid and without muskiness. Seeds about one-half the size of Rotundifolia, similar in other respects. Leafing, flowering, and ripening fruit very late.
In 1830 Rafinesque described, under the name Vitis peltata, or Vitis floridana, “a very singular species, lately found in Florida.” This description is brief and includes many characters of no taxonomic value. In 1885 or 1886, Mr. J.H. Simpson of Manatee, Florida, sent a specimen of a grape growing in his locality to Munson which was taken to be Rafinesque’s Vitis peltata. He consequently described it under the name Vitis floridana but the species was not generally accepted. Later Simpson gave it the name Vitis munsoniana.
Its habitat is central and southern Florida and the Florida Keys, and it is said to be the only grape growing on these Keys. It extends south of the habitat of Rotundifolia and blends into this species at their point of meeting.
Munsoniana appears to be a variation of Rotundifolia, fitted to subtropical conditions. It is tender, not enduring a lower temperature than zero. In the matter of multiplication it differs from Vitis rotundifolia in that it can be propagated readily from cuttings. Like Rotundifolia it is resistant to phylloxera. The species is of no value horticulturally.
3. VITIS RUPESTRIS Scheele.
1. Scheele, Linn., 21:591. 1848. 2. Ravenel, U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt., 1859:539. Mountain grape of Texas. 3. Buckley, Ib., 1861:485. Rock grape. 4. Prince, Gar. Mon., 5:73. 1863. Bush grape of Texas. 5. Engelmann, Mo. Ent. Rpt., 1872:61. Sand grape; Sugar grape. 6. Jaeger, Mo. Hort. Soc. Rpt., 1883:41. 7. Engelmann, Bush. Cat., 1883:10, 11, 12, 14, 18. Rock grape; Sand grape; Sugar grape. 8. Bush, Ib., 1883:21, 26. 9. Munson, Am. Hort. Soc. Rpt., 1885:132. Sand-beach grape; Sugar grape. 10. Campbell, Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt., 1885:84. 11. Munson, Ib., 1885:97, 98. 12. Ib., Soc. Prom. Ag. Sci. Rpt., 1887:59. Sugar grape; Sand grape; Beach grape. 13. Planchon, De Candolle’s Mon. Phan., 5:323, 346. 1887. Sand grape; Sugar grape; Mountain grape. 14. Munson, Gar. and For., 3:474. 1890. 15. Ib., U. S. D. A. Pom. Bul., 3:7, 9. 1890. 16. Ib., Am. Gard., 12:659. 1891. 17. Ib., Mich. Hort. Soc. Rpt., 1893:116. Rock grape; Sand grape. 18. Munson, Bush. Cat., 1894:20, 22. 19. Husmann, 1895:110, 188. 20. Britton and Brown, 2:411. 1897. Sand grape; Sugar grape. 21. Bailey, Gray’s Syn. Fl., 1:421. 1897. Sand grape; Sugar grape; Rock grape; Bush grape; Mountain grape. 22. Beach, N. Y. Sta. An. Rpt., 17:537, 557. 1898. 23. Munson, Tex. Sta. Bul., 56:234, 235, 239, 259. 1900. Rock grape. 24. Viala and Ravaz, Am. Vines, 1903:42, 82.
Small, much branched shrub or sometimes, under favorable circumstances, slightly climbing. Diaphragm thin but slightly thicker than Riparia; tendrils few, or, if present, weak, usually deciduous. Leaves rather small; young leaves frequently folded on midrib; broadly cordate or reniform, wider than long, scarcely ever slightly lobed, smooth, glabrous on both surfaces at maturity; petiolar sinus wide, shallow; margin rather coarsely toothed, frequently a sharp abrupt point at terminal. Cluster small. Berries small, usually larger than Riparia, color black or purple-black. Seeds small, not notched; beak short, rather blunt; raphe slightly distinct to indistinct, usually showing as a narrow groove; chalaza of medium size, pear-shaped, sometimes distinct, but usually a depression only. Leafing, blossoming, and ripening early (blossoming soon after Riparia).
Rupestris seems to have been first described and named by Scheele in 1848 in a contribution on the flora of Texas to the periodical Linnaea. Ravenel, in 1859, states that this grape is found in Texas and is there known as the Mountain grape. It was mentioned and described by Buckley, Engelmann, and all of the later botanists. (See Plate.)
This species is an inhabitant of southwestern Texas, extending eastward and northward into New Mexico, southern Missouri, Indiana and Tennessee to southern Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia. Its favorite places are gravelly banks and bars of mountain streams or the rocky beds of dry water-courses. Rupestris is usually considered drouth-resistant but Munson states that it is short-lived in the upland sandy soils in northern Texas, where, owing to long droughts, the land dries out deeply. Here, he says, it is not so successfully resistant to drouth as Lincecumii.[130]
This species is quite variable both in type and growth. It was introduced into France at about the same time as Riparia, and the French vineyardists selected the most vigorous and healthy forms for grafting stock. These pass under the various names of Rupestris Mission, Rupestris du Lot, Rupestris Ganzin, Rupestris Martin, Rupestris St. George, and others. In France they are stated to have given particularly good results on bare, rocky soils with hot, dry exposures. In California, Husmann[131] states, “It does not flourish in dry locations here, and as it suckers profusely and does not take the graft as readily as the two former classes [Riparia and Aestivalis], it is not largely propagated.” It has not been sufficiently cultivated in this country east of the Rocky Mountains so that it can be said what conditions of soil and climate best suit this species other than the general conclusions that may be drawn from the conditions present where the species is indigenous.