166 srs'i i'.mahc roMoUHiy 



though long known 1lin)u«rh a few vai-ictics, is becoming more 

 and more promincnl. 



241. Vitis rotundifolia described. — This grape is easily dis- 

 tinguished fi-oin other cult i\a1('(l s|)('('ies by marked difTcrenees 

 in wood, foliage, and fruit. It is variously known as the 

 Museadine, Bull, Bullet, Bushy, Bullaee, Seuppernong, and 

 Southern Fox grape. 



1. Vitis rotundifolia, Miclix. (Plate XIV) Vine very vigorous, often 

 sending out aerial roots; bark smooth, without prominent warty lenticels; 

 siioots short-jointed, angled, with fine scurfy pubescence; diaphragms ab- 

 sent; tendrils intermittent, simple. Leaves small, broadly cordate or round- 

 ish ; petiolar sinus wide, shallow ; margin with obtuse wide teeth ; not lobed ; 

 dense, light green, glabrous above, pubescent along veins below. Cluster 

 small, loose; peduncle short; pedicels short, thick. Berries large, globular, 

 black or greenish-yellow; skin thick, tough and Avith a musky odor; pulp 

 tough; ripening unevenly and dropping as soon as ripe. Seeds flattened, 

 broadly notched; beak very short; chalaza narrow, depressed with radiating 

 ridges and furrows; raphe a narrow groove. 



242. Habitat of the Rotundifolia grapes. — The habitat of this 

 species is southern Delaware, west through Tennessee, southern 

 Illinois, southeastern Missouri, Arkansas (except the northwest- 

 ern portions), to Grayson County, Texas, as a northern and 

 western boundary to the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf on the east 

 and south. It becomes rare as one approaches the western limit, 

 but is common in many sections of the region outlined, being 

 most abundant on sandy well-drained bottom lands, along river 

 banks in swampy woodlands. Some ten or twelve Rotundifolia 

 grapes are well known in southern vineyards of which Seup- 

 pernong, James, Thomas, Flowers, and ^lemory are probably 

 the most typical. 



243. Pomological characters of Rotundifolia grapes. — The 

 fruit of Rotundifolia is very characteristic. The skin is thick, 

 adheres strongly to the flesh, and is marked with lenticel-like 

 russet dots. The flesh is tough, but the toughness is not local- 

 ized around the seed as in Labrusca. The fruits are character- 

 ized by a strong musky aroma. The most promising outlook for 

 Rotundifolia varieties is for culinary purposes. Rotundifolia 

 does not produce fruit suitable for shipping or dessert as the 

 berries ripen unevenly, and when ripe drop from the cluster. 

 The juice which exudes from the point where the stem is broken 



