Also known as Vitis vulpina
Native to the eastern US and Ontario
Woody vine which can grow either in a climbing or spreading habit.
Leaves are large with three, shallow lobes and sparse hairs on the underside.
The leaves and fruits are both edible by both humans and animals, which become much sweeter just after first frost.
Deciduous leaves will fall off and the plant goes into dormancy. Persistant fruits will shrivel and become raisins.
Requires full sun or partial shade and moist clay or loamy soil. Thrives in all pH levels
Hardinesss zones 5-10
Sentimental and Symbolic Value
The grape is a widespread staple fruit all across the world, particularly in the West, the Middle East and Asia. Wine is consumed most heavily in Romance language countries such as France, Italy, Portugal and Argentina, where wine consumption per person often exceeds 6 liters of pure alcohol per year.
Vitis labrusca's being a native grape, to rival the European V. vitifera, makes it a source of national pride in the US.
Grapes and wine are a symbol of the Greco-Roman god Dionysus as well as other ancient gods who represent joy and fertility. Wine holds ceremonial importance in both Judaism, where it is consumed ritually on the Shabbat and the Passover, and in Christianity. Christian belief holds that the wine consumed during the Mass is the literal blood of Christ, who instituted the sacred rite of the Eucharist during the Last Supper. The earliest viticultue tradition in the US was the production of sacramental wine by Spanish monks in the Southwest.
The consumption of alcohol is banned in Islam, except in the Alevi branch, but wine remains an important symbol in the Muslim world of merriment and celebration, a holdover from ancient Persian traditions.
Specimen photographed found at Lost Lake, Groton, Massachusetts
Plant History and Etymology
Vitis is the Latin term for grapevine, coming from a word meaning "twining" or "bending", while labrusca is of uncertain etymology and meaning which came to refer to woodland grape wine (see the Italian wine style Lambrusco). The fox grape was noted by Norse explorers as growing abundantly in Vinland (modern-day Newfoundland), and was again discovered by European settlers in the 16th and 17th centures. It was noted for its wide variety of colos and "foxy" - or subpar - taste compared to the European wine grape, Vitis vinifera. English settlers in New England began breeding the fox grape to be sweeter, which eventually evolved into the Concord grape, V. labrusca 'Concord', while Virgina used it to develop a formidable wine industry. The majority of today's American wine regions, including Long Island, the Upper Mississippi Valley, Virginia, and the Ohio River basin use V. labrusca as their most common grape, as it is generally locally abundant and survives North America's harsher conditions better than the Old World varieties.
Design Considerations
Grapes are a well known and attractive edible plant which would make a great addition to any edible or native garden. Their growth habit makes them ideal for vertical plantings such as giving character to a blank wall or cultivating vines on trees. Their fruits, which ripen in the summer and fall, range from black or purple to white. Flowers are white or gold and panicled, blooming from May to June.
Sources
“A History of Wine in America.” 2021. Cdlib.org. 2021. https://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft967nb63q&chunk.id=d0e4454&toc.depth=1&toc.id=d0e4454&brand=ucpress.
“Vitis Vulpina (Chicken Grape, Fox Grape, Frost Grape, Wild Grape) | North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox.” 2021. Ncsu.edu. 2021. https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/vitis-vulpina/.
Wikipedia Contributors. 2021. “Wine.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. November 12, 2021. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wine#Consumption.