One of the approximately 30 American species or wild vines with the full botanical name Vitis rupestris Scheele. It was first described in 1848 by the German botanist Georg Heinrich Adolf Scheele (1808-1864), who is thus immortalized in the name. Together with the two species Vitis acerifolia and Vitis riparia, it forms the group Ripariae. Due to the often stony substrate of its locations, it is also referred to by the trivial synonyms rock vine or sand vine, as well as Beach Grape, Bush Grape, Currant Grape, Ingar Grape, July Grape, Mountain Grape, Rock Grape, sand grape and Sugar Grape.
The vine mainly occurs in the temperate, warm areas in the southwest of the United States in treeless prairies. These are primarily the U.S. states Arkansas, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas. Unlike other wild vines, it is not a climbing plant, has a high light and heat requirement, and grows as a small bush mainly on dry sand, gravel, and rubble soils along mountain rivers, as well as in dried-up riverbeds.
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