Herb: Sweet Winter Grape


Latin name: Vitis cinerea


Family: Vitaceae (Grape Family)



Edible parts of Sweet Winter Grape:

Fruit - raw or dried for winter use. A sweet flavour. It can also be used in pies, jellies etc. The fruit is about 4 - 6mm in diameter and is produced in fairly large bunches. Leaves - cooked. Young leaves are wrapped around other foods and then baked, they impart a pleasant flavour. Young tendrils - raw or cooked. The sap is made into a tasty beverage.

Description of the plant:



Plant:
Deciduous
Climber

Flowering:
June
to July

Habitat of the herb:

Rich low thickets, bottoms and banks of streams. Grows up trees in forests.

Other uses of Sweet Winter Grape:

A yellow dye is obtained from the fresh or dried leaves.

Propagation of the herb:

Seed - best sown in a cold frame as soon as it is ripe. Six weeks cold stratification improves the germination rate, and so stored seed is best sown in a cold frame as soon as it is obtained. Germination should take place in the first spring, but sometimes takes another 12 months. Prick out the seedlings into individual pots when they are large enough to handle and grow them on in a cold frame for their first winter. Plant out in early summer. Cuttings of mature wood of the current seasons growth, December/January in a frame. These cuttings can be of wood 15 - 30cm long or they can be of short sections of the stem about 5cm long with just one bud at the top of the section. In this case a thin, narrow strip of the bark about 3cm long is removed from the bottom half of the side of the stem. This will encourage callusing and the formation of roots. Due to the size of these cuttings they need to be kept in a more protected environment than the longer cuttings. Layering.

Cultivation of Sweet Winter Grape:

Rich low thickets, bottoms and banks of streams. Grows up trees in forests.

Medicinal use of the herb:

None known

Known hazards of Vitis cinerea:

None known

Plant information taken from the Plants For A Future.