VINE FAMILY 



quently it is confused with Poison Ivy (Rhus toxicoden- 

 drori) but, as has been already cited: 



"Leaflets three, quickly flee, 

 Leaflets five, save alive." 



VITACE^E VINE FAMILY 



Vitis Labrusca, L. 



Greenish Northern Fox-grape. 



May-June 



Vitis: the classical Latin name. 

 Labrusca: a classical name. 



THE PREFERRED HABITAT: low thickets, open places, bare, 

 sandy fields. 



THE VINE: climbing by forked tendrils, very much 

 branched; the young branches woody; the bark shredded. 



THE LEAVES: scattered, opposite a tendril or flower-cluster; 

 above light green; with tawny hairs below; heart-shaped; 

 abruptly acute at the apex; cut at the base; petioled; 

 variably lobed; with short, broad teeth. 



THE FLOWERS: some perfect, some staminate, the fertile 

 in a compact panicle. 



THE FRUIT: a pulpy berry; deep purple or amber purple 

 in colour or sometimes greenish or greenish-purple, with a 

 sweet musky flavor. 



"Improved by cultivation it has given rise to the Isa- 

 bella, Catawba, Concord, and other varieties." 



This is the more prevalent wild grape of the Island. 

 "It thrives in low thickets, draping the shrubbery, and 

 strays into open places, trailing among the grass and her- 

 baceous plants, or even sprawling in bare, sandy fields." 

 It is, indeed, a decorative vine, with large light green leav^ s, 



207 



