386 XL1II. AMPELIDEiE (BAKER). 



deciduous. Stamens 4-5, opposite the petals, inserted at the base of the disk 

 or between its lobes. Anthers free or connate, short, 2 -celled. Disk round 

 or quadrangular, often prominent, free or connate with the petals, stamens, 

 or ovary. Ovary often immersed in the disk, 2-6-celled, the cells with 1 or 

 2 ovules in each. Style subulate or obsolete ; stigma capitate, sublobate. 

 Ovules ascending, anatropal, often adnate to the septum, with a short funi- 

 culus. Fruit a watery or firm berry, 1-6-celled, the cells 1-2-seeded. Seeds 

 erect, the testa bony, the endopleure sometimes rugose ; albumen cartila- 

 ginous, sometimes ruminate. Embryo short, placed at the base of the 

 albumen ; cotyledons oval ; radicle very short, inferior. — Sarmentose or 

 suberect shrubs with usually a copious watery juice. Stems articulated, 

 rarely bulbous and subterranean in the lower part. Leaves alternate, very 

 rarely opposite, simple or digitate or pedate or pinnate, the base of the pe- 

 tiole articulated, sometimes swollen with a leafy border clasping the stem 

 like a stipule. Inflorescence in our species cymose or thyrsoid. Tendnls 

 mostly copious. Flowers small, often green. 



An almost cosmopolitan Order, with its headquarters in tropical Asia ; rare in America, 

 very rare in Europe and Polynesia. 



Filaments and anthers free !• ' ,TIS- 



Filaments united in a tube and anthers cohering by their edges "• ^ EE 



1. VITIS, Linn.; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PL i. 387. 



Calyx cyathiform, entire or slightly 4-5-lobed. Petals 4-5, often in- 

 curved and cohering permanently at the point, the unexpanded corolla glo- 

 bose or cylindrical. Stamens 4-5, inserted below the edge of the often 

 prominent disk. Anthers free. Ovary globose or ovoid, generally 2-ce led, 

 rarely 3- or 4-celled. Style obsolete or subulate. Fruit an ovoid or globose 

 berry, 1- or 2-celled, the cells 1- or 2-seeded.— Shrubs with herbaceous 

 wood; or succulent stems, usually sarmentose with copious tendrils, some- 

 times suberect. Leaves in the African species simple or with 3-7 leaflets, 

 never arranged pinnately. Inflorescence in leaf-opposed or casually terminal 

 stalked cymes or thyrsoid panicles. Flowers usually hermaphrodite, some- 

 times polygamous. 



A large genus, with its headquarters in the tropics of the Old World. 

 A. Leaves simple. 



* Leaves ovate, not at all lobed. 



leaves and young shoots glabrous or very nearly so. 

 Stems woody. 



Flowers in simple subsessile cymes ........ 1. V- product*- 



Flowers in short stalked subcorymbose or thyrsoid pa- 

 nicles 2. V. Afzelit. 



Stems herbaceous 3. V. Barteri. 



Leaves and young shoots ferrugineo-tomentosc. * 



Stems woody, suberect, cymes compound 4. V. cornifoUa- 



Stems slender, sarmentose, cymes simple . . '. . \ '. 5. V. difrnsifora. 



** Leaves cordate, not at all lobed. 

 fLeaves and young shoots glabrous or very nearly so. 



