Wild grape

Description:

Vigorous climbing vine, some to 40 feet or more. Grapes climb by tendrils. Panicles of small, fragrant flowers are followed by pulpy, 2 to 4 seeded berries, often arranged in dense clusters.

Habitat:

This grape was growing up into a tree in a park near Lake Lewisville, Tx.

Notes:

Native Americans and early settlers used wild grape as a food source. As early as the 18th C settlers had started to domesticate varieties of wild American grape and cross them vinifera vines to produce wine. Phylloxera decimated European vineyards in the late 1800s. Today, practically all European grapevines are grown on grafted rootstock of American (often Texas) heritage, which is resistant to phylloxera.