Muscadinia rotundifolia (Michx.) Small var. munsoniana ((J.H. Simpson ex Planch.) Weakley & Gandhi

Munson Grape; Bullace Grape

Vine

Perennial

Vascular

Bullace is a native perennial woody vine in the Grape family (Vitaceae). It occurs in the southern third of Alabama. Bullace occurs in floodplain forests along rivers and black-water streams, in hammocks, and in low pine woods. It is a woody vine climbing by un-branched tendrils. The bark is gray in color and tight on young stems. On older stems, it peels in long strips. The pith is continuous through the nodes. Leaves are alternate, petiolate, deciduous, cordate to reniform in outline, with toothed margins. The leaves are glabrous above and glabrous below or with hairs along the veins or in the axils of the veins. Flowers are produced in panicles from the axils of the leaves. The flowers are greenish-yellow in color and not showy. The fruit is a leathery berry with 1-4 seed. Bullace is closely related to, and intergrades into the familiar Muscadine or Scuppernong (Vitis rotundifolia Michaux var. rotundifolia). It differs primarily in the number of berries per cluster (12-30 compared to 2-8 in Muscadine), and the size of the berries (8-12 mm in diameter compared to 9+ mm in Muscadine). The word “Bullace” appears to be from the Old French word “buloce”, a term used to describe a wild plum with small, sweet, purple-black fruit. Bullace fruit are edible and are gathered by locals for jelly and wine or eaten fresh. They are also consumed by a variety of wildlife from birds to mammals. Bullace was at one time listed as a S1 species in Alabama (typically 5 or fewer occurrences, very few remaining individuals, acres, or miles of stream, or some factor of its biology making it especially vulnerable in the state), but has since been de-listed due to additional populations being discovered.--A. Diamond & B. Keener

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Native G5 (Global Rank)

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