VITACEAE 191 



smaller ones are covered with white hair, which sometimes 

 is rusty in the axils of the main veins. The petiole is about 

 two-thirds as long as the leaf blade and pubescent to glabrous 

 at maturity, except where it joins the blade. 



The loose inflorescence is cylindrical or somewhat pyramid 

 shaped, drooping, and 3 to 8 inches long. The flowers blossom 

 in late May and through most of June, and the fruit begins 

 to ripen about the middle of September. The fruit clusters 

 are commonly 3 to 8 inches long and stand on peduncles ^ to 

 ly? inches long. The black, bloom-covered berries are some- 

 what less than }/? inch in diameter and generally contain 2 or 3 

 broadly ovate, small seeds. 



Distribution. — The Frost Grape ranges, in woods and 

 thickets, from New York to Nebraska and south to Florida 

 and Texas. It is found throughout Illinois, being especially 

 common in fence-row thickets, and is perhaps the commonest 

 and most abundant wild grape in the state. It is, however, 

 rare, perhaps entirely absent, in the northeastern corner of 

 the state in the counties bordering on Lake Michigan. 



VITIS PALMATA Vahl 

 Catbird Grape 



The Catbird Grape, fig. 48, is a climbing vine with bright 

 red branchlets, shreddy bark, and distinctly triangular, 3-lobed, 

 sharp-pointed leaves. The branchlets become reddish brown 

 at maturity and are smooth by flowering time, except for warty 

 glands on the lower internodes. The leaf blades, usually longer 

 than wide, are 2 to 5 inches long, long-acuminate at the apex, 

 and very broadly U-shaped at the base. The leaf margin is 

 smooth or slightly ciliate and provided with 2 short but distinct 

 lateral lobes, or sometimes the leaf is 5-lobed, and the lobes 

 are separated by deep or shallow, acute or obtuse sinuses. The 

 teeth terminating primary veins are distinctly longer and sharper 

 than the other convex or acute teeth, but all are tipped with a 

 slender, small spine. The leaf surface is bright green and 

 smooth above, except on the veins, and smooth beneath except 

 on the veins and in the axils of the larger veins, w^hich are 

 commonly bright red. The petioles are one-half to two-thirds 

 as long as the blade and usually glabrous. 



The inflorescence is either branched or shouldered, and 2 to 



