Vitis mustangensis

Vitis mustangensis

The wild grape Vitis mustangensis comes from North America with many discounts and subspecies. It was first described in 1845 by Georg Engelmann. In 1861 it was described by biologists as Buckley Vitis mustangensis.

The vine is native to the U.S. states of Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas and northern Mexico. The Arkansas River forms the northern border of the range. In some sources, even the Mississippi, Alabama and Florida are called.

Vitis mustangensis has felted, white shoot tips with reddish edges. The leaf shape varies greatly, but is usually fleshy and soft, with a shiny, waxy surface. The leaves are dark green leaf with convex teeth. The red buds are very small. This 10 - 13 m high climbing wild species has small, lockerbeerige grapes with medium sized berries. The deep dark blue berries have jelly-like pulp that leaves a burning, bitter taste. The wild grape is very profitable. For the wine but the berry is inappropriate. According to reports by pioneers of the 19th century, the wine was drinkable when about 3 kg of sugar per gallon were annexed to the must and aufspritete the resulting wine with alcohol.

It has good resistance to downy mildew and powdery mildew, phylloxera, drought, soil with a high salt content as well as against nematodes. Very susceptible it is, however, against too high lime content of the soil and frost. She is also very difficult to take root.

There are a number of crosses with the wild vine Vitis rupestris, Vitis riparia and Vitis berlandieri known. The poor rooting makes its use as a rootstock virtually impossible. At the University of California Davis selections of type V. champinii pulled because of the high salt - and nematode resistance. These are found in Australia and California, to a limited extent used as rootstocks

Ethnicity: wild grape

Trivial Name: Mustang Grape

Synonyms: Vitis candicans Engelmann and Vitis candicans var diversa Bailey