''Vitis'' × ''labruscana'' is a subgroup of

grapes A grape is a fruit, botanically a berry, of the deciduous woody vines of the flowering plant genus ''Vitis''. Grapes are a non- climacteric type of fruit, generally occurring in clusters. The cultivation of grapes began perhaps 8,000 years ago, ...

originating from a hybridization of ''

Vitis labrusca ''Vitis labrusca'', the fox grape, is a species of grapevines belonging to the ''Vitis'' genus in the flowering plant family Vitaceae. The vines are native to eastern North America and are the source of many grape cultivars, including Catawba, C ...

'' and ''

Vitis vinifera ''Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine, is a species of flowering plant, native to the Mediterranean region, Central Europe, and southwestern Asia, from Morocco and Portugal north to southern Germany and east to northern Iran. There are curr ...

''. Popular examples include

Concord Concord may refer to: Meaning "agreement" * Pact or treaty, frequently between nations (indicating a condition of harmony) * Harmony, in music * Agreement (linguistics), a change in the form of a word depending on grammatical features of other ...

and Niagara grapes, which comprise nearly all grapes processed for juice or jelly in the United States. Such cultivars are frequently referred to as "labrusca", however many are as little as half ''Vitis labrusca'' in their pedigree. Another common term, arguably more accurate, is "labrusca-type". These varieties do in fact possess many of the traits of ''Vitis labrusca'', frequently including slipskin fruit, strong "foxy" flavor/odor, and large leaves with lighter colored and pubescent undersides. Most are self-fertile, unlike wild ''Vitis labrusca''. For much of the history of American viticulture, such varieties made up the bulk of production, particularly outside of California. In more recent years, however, the introduction of chemical pesticides and the development of rootstocks able to tolerate phylloxera have reduced their importance considerably in favor ''Vitis vinifera''. Nonetheless, such cultivars, particularly Concord, remain a significant and vital part of the North American and Japanese grape industries.

References

labruscana Hybrid grape varieties Interspecific plant hybrids {{vitaceae-stub