Mustang Grapes

There are many Mustang grapes (Vitis mustangensis) growing on our property. This species is native to our area and is quite common. The Wildflower Center's entry is here. The Texas A&M native plant database entry is here.

The grapes are edible and you can make wine and jam and jelly from them. There are many recipes available on the Internet. Central Texas soils are good for growing grapes and there are several wineries near us, although they are not growing this native.

These photos were taken on July 3rd of this year. This particular vine is growing in a live oak tree right beside our driveway. Although it doesn't have any large grape clusters, it has many small ones. Remember, this is a wild grape. It hasn't been cultivated or bred to produce large clusters. It survives and thrives on its own - no fertilizing, watering, or pesticides. The grapes are ripe in these photos. Earlier in the season, they were green in color.

Birds will eat the grapes and then scatter the seeds. The birds always know when they're ripe, so it's a race to try to eat one before the birds do. I've tasted the grapes and they're not very sweet. When I took these photos, they weren't bad, but definitely not what you would buy at the grocery store. I had tried them a few weeks earlier and they were very sour. Mary can attest to the face I made. Sorry, no photo.

Here's a photo of the base of the vine. About 10 years ago, before I knew what the vine was, and thinking that it might damage the tree, I cut the vine. I remember that a lot of water poured out of the cut end, so the vine itself stores quite a bit of water. You can see how it grew back. Each vine is about 1 to 2 inches in diameter.

The vine can overwhelm a tree, but my perspective now is to let nature take it's course, for the most part. This tree is on our driveway, so if the grape vine gets too big, I might take it down again, but in general I'll leave them alone.