Vitis tiliifolia is a New Worldliana in the grape family commonly known as Caribbean grape.[1] Other names include West Indian grape,[2]water vine, Agrá and
Bejuco de Agua (in Costa Rica) and (in Belizean Creole) water tie-tie and water-wise.[3]
Vitis tiliifolia is grown as a forest crop in Mayan agriculture, and is used for food or drink, or as an ingredient in medicines.[3]
The vine is most commonly dioecious, with separate male and female vines, though wild hermafrodite vines have been found. Flowering is usually at the beginning of the dry season (December in the northern hemisphere) and fruit production can be up to 20 kg per vine in cultivation. The fruits are small and acid with low sugar near 8 Brix but are sometimes made into wine resembling that of the Norton grape of the east and central USA. In cultivation the vines are vigorous similar to the Muscadine grape and should be given ample trellis room of near 6 meters or 20 feet. V. tiliifolia can and should be pruned and can be propagated from cuttings just like other grapes.[citation needed]
Pests
Vitis tiliifolia may have some resistance to Pierce's disease (PD), which afflicts many commercial grape species; it has exhibited atypical symptoms despite harboring high populations of the plant pathogenXylella fastidiosa, which causes PD.[4]
^USDA, NRCS (n.d.). "Vitis tiliifolia". The PLANTS Database (plants.usda.gov). Greensboro, North Carolina: National Plant Data Team. Retrieved 6 August 2015.
^ abWaight, Marlyn (July 6, 2009). "Plant List". Forest Garden Database. Exploring Solutions Past: The Mayan Forest Alliance; El Pilar Maya Forest Garden Network. Retrieved April 20, 2010.