Vitis labrusca

Ardenghi, Nicola M. G. & Cauzzi, Paolo, 2015, Alien grapes (Vitis, Vitaceae) in Sicily (Italy): novelties for the Sicilian and Mediterranean flora, Natural History Sciences 2 (2), pp. 137-148 : 141

Vitis labrusca L., Sp. Pl. , 1: 203. 1753.

Presence in Sicily confirmed; invasive status changed from casual to naturalized for Sicily.

Distribution. Rare, recorded from only two localities in the province of Messina ( Fig. 2 ).

Habitat. Riverbanks, waste land; 120-411 m.

Invasion status. Naturalized. The populations observed in the province of Messina (especially along the banks of the Naso stream in Sinagra) are well-established, reproducing both vegetatively and by seed as in Lombardy, the only Italian region where V. labrusca has ever been recorded as naturalized (Ardenghi, 2010; Ardenghi et al., 2014) .

Use. Cultivated almost exclusively for fruit consumption, occasionally for domestic wine-making, mostly in private vegetable gardens. The commercial cultivation of V. labrusca in Sicily, formerly concentrated in the province of Messina, seems in decline (Istituto centrale di statistica & Ministero dell’agricoltura e delle foreste, 1972).

Notes. The species was already reported from Sicily ( Conti et al., 2005; Giardina et al., 2007; Celesti-Grapow et al., 2009, 2010; Provincia Regionale di Palermo, 2009; Raimondo et al., 2010; Ardenghi et al., 2014), however, as noticed by G. Galasso (in Conti et al., 2005: 417), literature data may refer to other non-native taxa, such as the record by Giardina et al. (2007) (then repeated by Raimondo et al., 2010), indicating V. labrusca as “cultivated as rootstock for V. vinifera and surviving up to 150 years”: this species has never been used in viticulture as rootstock (see e.g., Galet, 1988; Eynard & Dalmasso, 1990; Ardenghi et al., 2015b), therefore this record, besides not being referable to wild populations (but only to residuals of cultivation), has to be assigned to other species or nothospecies.

Figures

Fig. 2 - Geographical distribution in Sicily of Vitis labrusca (green dots), V. ×instabilis (red dots), and V. ×koberi (blue dots).