Family: Vitaceae
Group: Dicot
Substrate:
Terrestrial
Habit:
Vine
Perennation:
Perennial
Native Range: Southeastern United States and the Bahamas.
IRC SOUTH FLORIDA Status:
Secure
Map of select IRC data for peninsular Florida
SOUTH FLORIDA Occurrence:
Present
SOUTH FLORIDA Native Status:
Native
SOUTH FLORIDA Cultivated Status:
Cultivated
Comments: Visit our
Natives For Your Neighborhood website for more information and images.
When recognizing both
Vitis munsoniana and
V. rotundifolia, most Vitis (or alternatively Muscadina) found in peninsular Florida should be designated as
Vitis munsoniana (Rogers & Mortenson, 1979; Talavera et al., 2023). However, distinguishing between these two species based on vegetative characteristics is nearly impossible, as the size of mature fruits is needed to make a proper identification.
Vits munsoniana is distinguished by its infructescence of 12-30 dark purple-black berries that are <1cm wide, which lack lenticels, and have seeds <7mm long, while
V. rotundifolia, primarily of the Panhandle, has an infructescence of 2-8 bronze-purple berries that are usually >1.5 cm wide, often lenticellate, and have seeds >7 mm long.
Vitis munsoniana var.
pygmaea, with small leaf blades 2-3.5 cm wide, occurs in scrub habitat in Highlands and Polk Cos (Ward, 2006). See also
Atlas of Florida Plants.
FLORIDA KEYS Occurrence:
Present
FLORIDA KEYS Native Status:
Native
IRC FLORIDA KEYS Status:
Imperiled
Map of select IRC data for the Florida Keys
Florida Keys History and Distribution: Reported in 1913 by John Kunkel Small for hammocks in the upper Keys. First collected in the lower Keys by J.D. Dickson III
(s.n., FTG) in 1951. We consider this native to the upper Keys and lower Keys, but possibly extirpated in the lower Keys.
