THE GRAPES OF NEW YORK. I35 



15. VITIS CALIFORNICA Benth.' 



I. Bentham, Bot. Sidpli. Voy., 1844:10. 2. Buckley, U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt.. 1861:479, 4S3. 

 Calijornia grape. 3. Engclmann, Mo. Eiit. Rpt.. i872:(i2. 4. lb., Bush. Cat., 1883:10, 11, 12, 

 i.l, 15. Call jornia grape. 5. Munson. Avi. Hort. Soc. Rpt., 1885:1,^7. 6. Flancbon, De Candolle's 

 l\Ion. I^liat'... 5:32.3, 339. 18S7. 7. Munson, Soc. Prom. Ag. Sci. Rft., 1887:59. California grape. 

 8. Hammond, Gar. and For.. 2:39. 1SS9. Wild grape. 9. Munson. U. S. D. A. Pom. Bui., 

 3:10. iSi)o. 10. lb., Gar. and For.. 3:474. 475. 1890. 11. lb.. Mich. Hort. Soc. Rpt.. 1893:116. 

 12. Husmann, 1895:4. 189. 13. Bailey, Gray's Syn. FL. 1:42(1. 1897. 14. Munson. Te.w Sta. 

 Bui.. 56:230, 239. 1000. North California grape. 15. Viala and Ravaz, Am. I'ines, 1903:42, 50. 



Vine vigorous, climbing, but shrubby if left without support; shoots cylindrical or 

 slightly angled; diaphragms of medium thickness to rather thin; tendrils intermittent, 

 bifid or trifid. Leaves with stipules medium to small; leaf broadly cordate; petiolar 

 sinus variable, usually wide and open, usually entire, sometimes slightly tri-lobed; teeth 

 variable in size, blunt; smooth above and varying below from glabrous to much whitish 

 pubescence. Clusters small to medium, usually compact; peduncle mostly long and 

 slender. Berries small, black with rather abundant bloom. Seeds small to medium, 

 plump, slightly notched, if at all; chalaza oblong-oval; raphe slightly distinct or 

 invisible. 



Californica was named and described by Bentham in 1844. It was 

 later mentioned l3\' Newberry, Torrey and others. As these descriptions 

 were all made either from herbarium specimens or by botanists traveling 

 through the region, they are not so definite as those made later. 



The habitat of Californica is the northern half of California along 

 streams west of the Sierra Nevada mottntains and north into Rogue River 

 Valle}' in southern Oregon, its northern limit. 



This species is interesting in that it is a native of a region of North 

 America not originally infested with phylloxera, but in wliich phylloxera 

 has since been introduced. As might be suspected, it has little more 

 resistance to this insect than Vinifera and less than any other American 



' George Bentham was born near Plymouth, England, in 1800. His father was a man of con- 

 siderable wealth and the son was privately educated. Early in life he showed an inclination toward 

 botanv, writing a book on The Plants of the Pyrenees and Lovjer Languedoe which was published 

 when he was only twenty-six years old. For a time he studied law in which he showed consider- 

 able talent and where his original views attracted some attention. Later, however, he gave his 

 attention to botany almost exclusively, joined the London Horticultural Society and the Linnaean 

 Society, and was more or less closely connected with the workers at Kew. In connection with 

 J. D. Hooker he wrote the Genera Plantariim. Others of his well-known works are Flora 

 Aiistraliensis and Handbook of the British Flora. Bentham died in 1884. 



