Lynch, late foreman of the house, in 4 paper communicated 
to the Linnean Society of London, and quoted above.. Hach 
branch bears at its extremity, after ceasing to grow for the 
season, an elongated tuber, formed by the lengthening and 
swelling of one or more of the subterminal internodes. 
These tubers are sometimes five or even six inches long, and 
as thick as the thumb; they are cylindric or club-shaped, 
and shortly winged; green, fleshy, and rounded at the end, 
from which protrudes the deciduous often leaf-bearing tip 
of the branch. When the tuber is formed of two or more 
internodes, there is always a constriction at the nodes. 
Finally these tubers drop off, and on reaching the ground 
will form new plants under favourable circumstances. No 
exact counterpart to this structure has been observed in. 
the vegetable kingdom. The tendrils are no less curious. 
These are very slender, and repeatedly forked. At the tip 
of each branch a small adhesive disk is formed, as in the 
five-fingered ivy and some other climbing plants; though 
in these they are not generally developed until the tendril 
has reached a point of support. On reaching a support 
the disks adhere to it and enlarge greatly, and in the case 
of the support admitting of it, the tendril clasps it closely, 
and secretes from its surface a viscid tissue that glues it to 
the support. Thus the tendrils exhibit three modes of 
attachment, by clasping, by the disks, and by the adhesive 
tissue. 
Vitis pterophora is a native of Brazil, where it was dis- 
covered early in the century by the traveller and botanist 
Burchell growing on the banks of the Tocantins River, an 
affluent of the Amazons. Dried specimens have also been 
sent from the Province of Rio de Janeiro by M. Glaziou, 
and from the Botanical Gardens of Jamaica. It flowers 
at Kew in the autumn months. Fruit formed in the 
Cambridge Botanical Gardens very sparingly, and did not 
ripen.—J. D. H. 
Fig. 1, Flower; 2, the same with the petals removed; 3, petals before they 
separate; 4 and 5, stamens; 6, vertical section of ovary ; 7, unripe berry ; 8 and 9, 
unripe seeds :—all but figs. 7 and 8 enlarged. 
