Vine · Vitaceae
Riverbank grape
Vitis riparia
Riverbank grape is recorded as native to 34 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 1,029 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Riverbank grape at a glance
- Native in
- 1,029 counties, across 34 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4a PLANTS minimum temperature −33°F
- Mature height
- 45 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Sun to part shade Medium water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 4a. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −33°F; zone 4a winters bottom out at −30°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Riverbank grape is recorded as native to 34 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 1,029 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 1,029 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Arkansas 27 counties
- Colorado 11 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- District of Columbia 1 county
- Illinois 94 counties
- Indiana 56 counties
- Iowa 17 counties
- Kansas 88 counties
- Kentucky 28 counties
- Louisiana 19 counties
- Maine 12 counties
- Maryland 1 county
- Massachusetts 9 counties
- Michigan 59 counties
- Minnesota 69 counties
- Missouri 61 counties
- Montana 4 counties
- Nebraska 47 counties
- New Hampshire 8 counties
- New Jersey 16 counties
- New York 44 counties
- North Dakota 20 counties
- Ohio 79 counties
- Oklahoma 22 counties
- Oregon 2 counties
- Pennsylvania 45 counties
- South Dakota 32 counties
- Tennessee 8 counties
- Texas 1 county
- Vermont 14 counties
- Virginia 48 counties
- West Virginia 27 counties
- Wisconsin 53 counties
- Wyoming 7 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Vine
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 45 ft
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Growth form
- Multiple Stem
- Shape
- Climbing
- Lifespan
- Long
- Active growth period
- Spring and Summer
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intermediate (sun to part shade)
- Moisture use
- Medium water use
- Drought tolerance
- Medium
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- Medium
- Precipitation range
- 32 to 55 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse and medium
- pH range
- 6.1 to 8.5
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Medium
- Salinity tolerance
- None
- Fertility requirement
- High
- Minimum root depth
- 16 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −33°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4a and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 170
- Fire tolerance
- Low
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- White
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Late Spring
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Blue
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- Routinely Available
- Family
- Vitaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- VIRI
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Vitis riparia (PLANTS symbol VIRI).
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources