XXX. 2. THE VIRGINIAN CREEPER. 471 



The flowers of all the wild grapes have a pleasant fragrance, 

 not unlike that of mignonette : of this species the flowers are 

 still more fragrant. 



XXX. 2. THE CREEPER. AMPELO'PSIS. Michaux. 



A genus of a few species, which are found in Africa, in Java, 

 but mostly in the United States. Calyx entire. Petals 5, dis- 

 tinct, spreading, reflected. Ovary conical, not immersed in the 

 disk, 2-celled, with 2 ovules in each cell; style short. Berry 

 2-celled ; the cells 1- or 2-seeded. 



The Virginian Creeper. A. quinquefblia. Michaux. 



Figured in Abbott's Insects of Georgia, I, Plate 30. 



This is the most ornamental plant of its genus, and has been 

 extensively cultivated in this country and in Europe. It re- 

 commends itself by its hardiness, the rapidity of its growth and 

 the luxuriance and beauty of its foliage. In its native woods it 

 climbs rocks and trees to a great height. In cultivation, it is 

 often made to cover walls of houses forty or fifty feet high, — 

 clinging by rootlets which proceed from its tendrils. Its recent 

 shoots are green or purplish brown, with long orange dots. 

 The older stalks are covered with a sort of net-work of cuticle, 

 the meshes of a uniform size, except that they enlarge at the 

 axils of the branches. Leaves on very long, channelled, purple 

 or crimson leaf-stalks ; of 5 leaflets palmately arranged. Leaf- 

 lets irregular, obovate, wedge-shaped below, acuminate, with a 

 few mucronate teeth above and sometimes a little below the 

 middle, smooth, nearly of the same deep green on both surfaces, 

 turning purple, deep red, or crimson, early in autumn. Tendrils 

 opposite the leaves or branches. As in the vine, the stem seems 

 to be formed by the successive development of axillary buds. 

 Stem often strangulated or nearly cut off by a tendril. This 

 plant continues to flower and attract the humble bee and the 

 honey bee through July and August. The flowers are of a 

 reddish green. The calyx is an even or slightly waved border, 

 encircling the base. The petals, which are perhaps true sepals, 

 are completely refiexed and slipper-shaped, reddish, with a yel- 



