Vitis aestivalis, commonly called summer grape, is a North American grape vine that is native from Maine to Ontario south to Texas and Florida. It is typically found in dry rocky and upland woods, thickets, glades, rocky slopes and escarpments. It is a woody, climbing, deciduous vine that climbs by tendrils to 35' tall or sprawls over low growing shrubs. Trunks of mature vines will grow over time to as much as 6" across with reddish-brown bark peeling in strips. Cylindrical panicles of fragrant, yellowish-green flowers in late spring (May-June) are followed by drooping clusters (3-8" long) of medium-sized, blue-black grapes (each from .2 to .5" diameter) that ripen in late mid-season (September to October in St. Louis). Flowers are attractive to bees. Ripe fruit often varies considerably in quality from dry and tart to juicy and sweet. Ripe fruit is attractive to birds, mammals and some hornets and wasps. Large green leaves (2-8" long) with toothed margins vary in shape from having only shallow lobes to being deeply 3-5 lobed with rounded sinuses. Additional common names for this species are bunch grape and pigeon grape.