''Vitis rotundifolia'', or muscadine, is a

grapevine ''Vitis'' (grapevine) is a genus of 81 accepted species of vining plants in the flowering plant family Vitaceae. The genus consists of species predominantly from the Northern Hemisphere. It is economically important as the source of grapes, bot ...

species native to the southeastern and south-central United States. The growth range extends from

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

to New Jersey coast, and west to eastern

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

and

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

. It has been extensively cultivated since the 16th century. The plants are well-adapted to their native warm and humid climate; they need fewer chilling hours than better known varieties, and thrive in summer heat. Muscadine berries may be bronze or dark purple or black when ripe. Wild varieties may stay green through maturity. Muscadines are typically used in making

artisan An artisan (from , ) is a skilled craft worker who makes or creates material objects partly or entirely by hand. These objects may be functional or strictly decorative, for example furniture, decorative art, sculpture, clothing, food ite ...

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink made from Fermentation in winemaking, fermented fruit. Yeast in winemaking, Yeast consumes the sugar in the fruit and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Wine is most often made f ...

s, juice, hull pie and jelly. They are rich sources of

polyphenol Polyphenols () are a large family of naturally occurring phenols. They are abundant in plants and structurally diverse. Polyphenols include phenolic acids, flavonoids, tannic acid, and ellagitannin, some of which have been used historically as ...

s. In a natural setting, muscadine provides

wildlife habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...

as shelter, browse, and food for many birds and animals. It is also a

larva A larva (; : larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into their next life stage. Animals with indirect development such as insects, some arachnids, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase ...

l host for the Nessus Sphinx Moth ('' Amphion floridensis'') and the Mournful Sphinx Moth ('' Enyo lugubris'').

Taxonomy and pathology

Although in the same genus ''

Vitis ''Vitis'' (grapevine) is a genus of 81 accepted species of vining plants in the flowering plant family Vitaceae. The genus consists of species predominantly from the Northern Hemisphere. It is economically important as the source of grapes, bot ...

'' with the other grapevine species, the muscadine species belongs to a separate subgenus, ''Muscadinia'' (all other grapevine species belong to subgenus '' Euvitis''). Usually the species is divided into three varieties, ''Vitis rotundifolia'' Michx. var. ''rotundifolia'' (southeast USA), ''Vitis rotundifolia'' Michx. var. ''munsoniana'' (Florida), and ''Vitis rotundifolia'' Michx. var. ''popenoei'' (Central America). Some taxonomists have suggested giving the muscadines standing as a separate genus. It has also been suggested that the muscadine varieties be upgraded to species rank and so splitting off '' Vitis munsoniana'' and '' Vitis popenoei'' from ''Vitis rotundifolia''. All muscadines have 40 chromosomes, rather than 38. They are generally not cross-compatible with ''Euvitis'' subgenus, and most hybrids between the subgenera. A few are moderately fertile, and have been used in breeding. A commercially available ''Euvitis'' × ''Muscadinia'' hybrid is the ''Southern Home'' cultivar. Muscadines are hearty grapes with thick and tough skin that protects them from many plant diseases. These grapes nonetheless appear to be susceptible to parasitic

nematode The nematodes ( or ; ; ), roundworms or eelworms constitute the phylum Nematoda. Species in the phylum inhabit a broad range of environments. Most species are free-living, feeding on microorganisms, but many are parasitic. Parasitic worms (h ...

s. Some other pests that can be found on the Muscadines are grapevine aphids and grape root borers. However, according to Oscar Liburd, a professor at the University of Florida, pests attacks on the muscadines are not significant.

Cultivars

There are about 152 muscadine

cultivar A cultivar is a kind of Horticulture, cultivated plant that people have selected for desired phenotypic trait, traits and which retains those traits when Plant propagation, propagated. Methods used to propagate cultivars include division, root a ...

s grown in the Southern states. These include bronze, black and red varieties and consist of common grapes and patented grapes. Unlike most cultivated grapevines, many muscadine cultivars are pistillate, requiring a

pollenizer A pollenizer (or polleniser), sometimes pollinizer (or polliniser, see spelling differences), is a plant that provides pollen. The word ''pollinator'' is often used when ''pollenizer'' is more precise. A pollinator is the biotic agent that move ...

to set fruit. A few, such as 'Carlos' and 'Noble', are perfect-flowered, produce fruit with their own pollen, and may also pollinate pistillate cultivars. Muscadine grape cultivars may have low or inconsistent yields, small berries, flavor and thick skin unsuitable to consumer acceptance, and disease susceptibility. Cultivars tend to be developed either for a limited fresh market or for winemaking. For consumer acceptance, fresh market grapes need to be large, sweet, and with relatively thin skin, whereas those for wine, juice or jelly need high yields of high-sugar, color-stable berries. Fresh-market cultivars include Black Beauty, Carlos, Cowart, Flowers, Fry, Granny Val, Ison, James, Jumbo, Magnolia, Memory (first found on T.S. Memory's farm in 1868 in Whiteville, NC), Mish, Nesbitt, Noble, Scuppernong, Summit, Supreme, and Thomas. Produced by the University of Florida, the cultivar, 'Southern Home', contains both subgenera ''Muscadinia'' and ''Euvitis'' (more precisely, ''V. rotundifolia'' × ''V. vinifera'') in its background. Crops can be started in 3–5 years. Commercial yields of 20–45

tonne The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1,000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton in the United States to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the s ...

s per

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), that is, square metres (), and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. ...

(8–18 tons per acre) are possible. Muscadines grow best in fertile sandy loam and alluvial soils. They grow wild in well-drained bottom lands that are not subject to extended drought or waterlogging. They are also resistant to pests and diseases, including

Pierce's disease ''Xylella fastidiosa'' is an aerobic, Gram-negative bacterium of the genus ''Xylella''. It is a plant pathogen, that grows in the water transport tissues of plants ( xylem vessels) and is transmitted exclusively by xylem sap-feeding insects suc ...

, which can destroy other grape species. Muscadine is one of the grape species most resistant to ''

Phylloxera Grape phylloxera is an insect pest of grapevines worldwide, originally native to eastern North America. Grape phylloxera (''Daktulosphaira vitifoliae'' (Fitch 1855) belongs to the family Phylloxeridae, within the order Hemiptera, bugs); orig ...

'', an insect that can kill roots of grapevines.

Appellations

Appellation An appellation is a legally defined and protected geographical indication used to identify where the ingredients of a food or beverage originated, most often used for the origin of wine grapes. Restrictions other than geographical boundaries, s ...

s producing Muscadine wines: * America (Country Appellation) *

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

(State Appellation) *

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

(State Appellation) *

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

(State Appellation) *

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

(State Appellation) *

Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...

(State Appellation) *

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

(State Appellation) *

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

(State Appellation) *

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

(State Appellation) *

(State Appellation)

Nutrients

100 grams of muscadine grapes contain the following nutrients according to the USDA: * Energy: 57 kilocalories * Fats: 0.47 g * Carbohydrates: 13.93 g * Dietary Fiber: 3.9 g * Protein: 0.81 g * Calcium: 37 mg * Phosphorus: 24 mg * Potassium: 203 mg * Sodium: 1 mg * Vitamin C (total ascorbic acid): 6.5 mg * Riboflavin: 1.5 mg

Consumer research

Consumer research indicates that the thick skins and variable in-season quality of fresh muscadine grapes are significant deterrents to retail acceptance.

Resveratrol and other polyphenols

One report indicated that muscadine grapes contained high concentrations of

resveratrol Resveratrol (3,5,4′-trihydroxy-''trans''-stilbene) is a stilbenoid, a type of natural phenol or polyphenol and a phytoalexin produced by several plants in response to injury or when the plant is under attack by pathogens, such as bacterium, ba ...

, but subsequent studies have found no or little resveratrol in muscadine grapes. Other muscadine

s include

anthocyanin Anthocyanins (), also called anthocyans, are solubility, water-soluble vacuole, vacuolar pigments that, depending on their pH, may appear red, purple, blue, or black. In 1835, the German pharmacist Ludwig Clamor Marquart named a chemical compou ...

tannins Tannins (or tannoids) are a class of astringent, polyphenolic biomolecules that bind to and precipitate proteins and various other organic compounds including amino acids and alkaloids. The term ''tannin'' is widely applied to any large po ...

, and various

flavonoid Flavonoids (or bioflavonoids; from the Latin word ''flavus'', meaning yellow, their color in nature) are a class of polyphenolic secondary metabolites found in plants, and thus commonly consumed in the diets of humans. Chemically, flavonoids ...

s. The rank order of total phenolic content among muscadine components was found to be seeds, higher than skins, higher than leaves, higher than pulp.

References

External links

The Muscadine Experience: Adding Value to Enhance Profits
2004 – 80 page technical resource for growers and processors, University of Arkansas {{Authority control American wine Crops originating from the United States Cuisine of the Southern United States Flora of the Appalachian Mountains Flora of the North-Central United States Flora of the Northeastern United States Flora of the South-Central United States Flora of the Southeastern United States Flora of the United States Fruits originating in North America Plants described in 1803 Plants used in Native American cuisine Red wine grape varieties Table grape varieties rotundifolia