VITACEAE 757 



Stipules caducous. Flowers polygamo-dioecious or dioecious, in alternate racemes or 

 panicles. Disk hypogynous. Calyx minute. Corolla caducous : petals cohering at the 

 top as a cap, never expanding. Stamens exserted, alternating with the lobes or glands of 

 the disk. Ovary mostly 2-celled. Styles stout. Ovules 2 in each cavity. Berry glo- 

 bose, finally edible. Seeds shaped like a coffee-grain. Bullace Grape. 



Berries 1-1.5 cm. in diameter ; the skin and pulp tender, the latter acid : seeds 3-5 mm. long. 



1. 31. Munsoniana. 

 Berries 1.5-2.5 cm. in diameter ; the skin and pulp tough, the latter musky : seeds 



6-9 mm. long. 2. M. rotundifolia. 



1. Muscadiaia Muagoniana (Simpson) Small. A slender trailing or low-climbing 

 vine. Leaf-blades thinnish, but rather firm, suborbicular or reniform, 4-8 cm. broad, 

 coarsely toothed, glabrous, except the axils of the nerves beneath, persistent, cordate at 

 the base ; petioles sometimes as long as the blades : panicles 2-8 cm. long : berries glo- 

 bose, 1-1.5 cm. in diameter, nearly black with a slight bloom or shining, quite acid, with a 

 thinnish skin, and tender pulp destitute of a musky taste : seeds 3-5 mm. long. [ Vitis 

 Munsonkma Simpson.] 



In sandy soil, Georgia and Florida. Flowering and fruiting throughout the year. 



2. Muscadiiiia rotundifolia (Michx. ) Small. A bushy, spreading or high climbing 

 vine sometimes 30 m. long, the stems often producing aerial roots. Leaf-blades'firm or 

 leathery, suborbicular to ovate-orbicular, 4-9 cm. in diameter or longer, usually acuminate, 

 coarsely toothed, glabrous, except the axils and sometimes the nerves beneath, cordate ; 

 petioles mostly shorter than the blades : panicles 2-4 cm. long, the staminate longer than 

 the fruit bearing : berries subglobose, 1.5-2.5 cm. in diameter, dull purple, without bloom, 

 with a tough skin and musky pulp, the bunches globular : seeds 6-9 mm. long. [ Vitis 

 rot andifolia Michx.] 



In sandy soil, on banks or in swamps and thickets, Delaware to Kansas, Florida and Texas. Spring 

 and summer ; fruit ripening in the summer and fall. 



3. cissus L. 



Climbing vines, with fleshy tissues and strong tendrils. Leaves alternate : blades 

 simple or 3-foliolate or at least 3-parted, the segments or leaflets entire or toothed, decidu- 

 ous. Flowers perfect or sometimes polygamous, in small cymes. Floral envelopes mostly 

 in 4's. Petals distinct, expanding during anthesis. Disk cup-like, 4-lobed. Stamens 

 often 4, inserted on the margin of the disk. Ovary 2-celled, adnate to the base of the 

 disk : style subulate. Ovules 2 in each cavity. Berries rather small, inedible, with scant 

 pulps. Seeds more or less 3-angled. 



Leaf-blades simple. 1. C. sicyoides. 

 Leaf-blades 3-foliolate or 3-divided. 



Flowers in compound umbel-like cymes : berries thickest below the middle. 2. C. acida. 



Flowers in trichotomous cymes : berries thickest above the middle. 3. C. indsa. 



1. Cissus sicyoides L. A pubescent high-climbing vine, Avith striate branches. 

 Leaves fleshy ; blades simple, ovate or oblong-ovate, 2-8 cm. long, acute or often acumi- 

 nate, distantly serrate with bristle-tipped teeth, rounded, often glabrate above, truncate or 

 cordate at the base : petioles 1-4 cm. long : flower-clusters umbel-like, pednncled : berries 

 subglobose, about 1 cm. in diameter, black : seeds solitary, 4-5 mm. long, acute at the 

 base. 



On banks and in low places, peninsular Florida. Also in the West Indies and southward in the 

 American tropics. The inflorescence is often infected by a fungus, Usiilago Cissi, which transforms the 

 flowers into cigar-shaped bodies. 



2. Cissus dcida L. A low-climbing glabrous vine, with forking somewhat succulent 

 branches and stout elongated tendrils. Leaves rigid ; blades 3-foliolate, the leaflets fleshy, 

 1-3 cm. long, suborbicular varying to ovate or obovate, often flabellate, more or less cune- 

 ately narrowed at the base, sharply toothed near the tip : flowers in more or less compound 

 umbel-like or corymb-like clusters, the rays stout : berries globose-ovoid or ovoid, abruptly 

 pointed, 5-7 mm. in diameter, dark-purple, on recurved pedicels : seeds solitary, or some- 

 times 2, obovoid, 7 mm. long, apiculate at the base. 



In sandy soil. Key West and southern peninsular Florida. Also in tropical America. 



3. Cissus incisa Desmoul. A succulent vine, 1-10 m. long, with warty bark and 

 forking sometimes penetrating tendrils, the roots sometimes with tuberous thickenings. 

 Leaves fleshy : blades 3-foliolate, the leaflets pale green, very fleshy, 3-10 cm. long, coarsely 

 toothed and incised, the terminal one sometimes 3-lobed,the lateral ones 2-lobed, all more 

 or less cuneately narrowed at the base, on stout petiolules : flowers in tricliotomous umbel- 

 like cymes : berries obovoid or obovoid-globose, 10-12 mm. long, apiculate, blackish, on 



