Onaka is one of a number of hardy

hybrid grape Hybrid grapes are grape varieties that are the product of a Hybrid (biology), crossing of two or more ''Vitis'' species. This is in contrast to crossings between grape varieties of the same species, typically ''Vitis vinifera'', the European grape ...

cultivars produced by the prolific breeder Nels Hansen at

South Dakota State University South Dakota State University (SDSU or SD State) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Brookings, South Dakota, United States. Founded in 1881, it is the state's largest university and is the sec ...

. It is a product of a cross of

Beta Beta (, ; uppercase , lowercase , or cursive ; or ) is the second letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of 2. In Ancient Greek, beta represented the voiced bilabial plosive . In Modern Greek, it represe ...

(a hybrid of ''

Vitis labrusca ''Vitis labrusca'', the fox grape, is a species of grapevines belonging to the ''Vitis'' genus in the flowering plant family Vitaceae. The vines are native to eastern North America and are the source of many grape cultivars, including Catawba, ...

'' and ''

Vitis riparia ''Vitis riparia'' Michx, with common names riverbank grape or frost grape, is a vine indigenous to North America. As a climbing or trailing vine, it is widely distributed across central and eastern Canada and the central and northeastern parts ...

'' known for its cold hardiness) and Salem (a ''

'' x ''

Vitis vinifera ''Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine, is a species of flowering plant, native to the Mediterranean Basin, Mediterranean region, Central Europe, and southwestern Asia, from Morocco and Portugal north to southern Germany and east to northern ...

'' hybrid). Although never widely cultivated and today largely forgotten, it has contributed to the cold-climate grape-breeding efforts of breeders such as

Elmer Swenson Elmer Swenson (12 December 1913 – 24 December 2004) was an American pioneering grape breeder who introduced a number of new cultivars, effectively revolutionizing grape growing in the Upper Midwest of the United States and other cold and shor ...

, who suspected a nearby vine of Onaka to be a likely parent of his variety

Kay Gray Kay Gray was developed by the Wisconsin grape breeder Elmer Swenson c. 1980 and is named after a family friend. It is a seedling of Swenson's own ES 217 (a cross of Minnesota 78 and Golden Muscat). Swenson collected open-pollinated seeds from this ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Onaka (Grape) Hybrid grape varieties