338 HYPOPETALEZ. 
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ORDER LXXXVIIL 
AMPELIDEZE or VINIFERE. 
Vites or Sarmentacea. 
Cuaracters.—Trailing or climbing shrubs, supporting 
themselves by tendrils growing in the place of the peduncles ; 
with simple or digitate leaves, opposite below, alternate above, 
having two stipules at the base, and small greenish flowers, 
arranged in racemes opposite to the leaves; calyx short; 
corolla with 4 or 5 petals, placed on a hypogynous disk, in- 
curved in xstivation ; stamens opposite, and generally equal 
in number to the petals; anthers versatile; ovary superior 
2-celled, with a short style and simple stigma, each cell ge- 
nerally containing 2 erect ovules; pericarp a pulpy berry, 
often 1-celled and with from 1 to 5 seeds, with a hard testa, 
and cartilaginous albumen. 
Exampie.— Vitis vinifera, the Vine. 
Economicat Prorerties.—The grape is the fruit of Vi- 
tis vinifera, belonging to this family, and the fruits of the 
other plants which the order contains more or less resemble 
that of this well-known plant. The leaves are in general 
acid and astringent. The use of the grape, either newly _ 
gathered, or dried, constituting the raisin, and the use of 
its juice, for making wine by fermentation, are familiar — 
to every one. Grapes contain a considerable quantity of — 
_ _Mepicivat Properries.—The leaves of the Vine are 
ee somewhat acid and astringent, and have been used in chro- 
