One of about 30 American species or wild vines with the complete botanical name Vitis rupestris Scheele. It was first described in 1848 by the German botanist and theologian Georg Heinrich Adolf Scheele (1808-1864), who for this reason is also immortalized in the name. Together with the two species Vitis acerifolia and Vitis riparia it forms the group Ripariae. Due to the often stony subsoil of its habitats, it is also known 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 is found primarily in the temperate, warm regions of the southwestern United States in treeless prairies. These are mainly the US states of 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 need for light and warmth and grows as a small bush mainly on dry sand, gravel and crushed stone soils along mountain rivers, as well as in dried-out riverbeds.
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Thorsten Rahn
Restaurantleiter, Sommelier, Weindozent und Autor; Dresden