A common grape throughout North Carolina, occuring in a wide variety of habitats.

To tell this apart from similar grape species, note that the leaves are not silvered beneath and the current season's twigs are round, not angled and not reddened at the nodes.

Chapel Hill, NC 5/25/09.

Developing fruits, shortly after flowering.

Chapel Hill, NC 5/25/09.

The name frost grape comes from the observation that the grapes don't turn sweet until after a frost.

To add confusion, the scientific name literally means "fox grape", but the species officially called Fox Grape is the similar Vitis labrusca. V. labrusca has tendrils or inflorescences at 3+ consecutive nodes and densely pubescent leaf undersides, while V. vulpina and other similar species have tendrils or inflorescences at only 2 nodes in a row and smooth or slightly hairy leaf undersides.

New Hanover Co., NC 8/30/08.