Muscadine

Muscadine

(Vitus rotundifolia )

Grape Family (Vitaceae)

Large, high growing vine with alternate, deciduous, round or heart-shaped leaves and greenish- brown, vertically grooved bark with tendrils for climbing.

Habitat:

Open woods.

Interesting Facts:

Fruit commonly eaten raw or used to make jelly, jam and wine. Leaves and tendrils also edible. Leaves used to produce a yellow dye. Drinkable, watery sap from stem.

Fruit:

Dark purple or bronze berries .5 - 1” in diameter, occur small, loose clusters, ripen in late summer.

Flower:

Small, greenish-white flowers appear in axillary panicles (clusters from a leaf bud) in late spring.

Wildlife value:

The fruit and pollen are common food sources for birds, mammals and insects.

Bark and Tendrils