SARMENTOS^. 311 



leaflets acute, coarsely and iucisely serrate: raceme oblong, 1 — 2 in. long, 

 often with one or more short branches at base: sepals obovate, concave: 

 petals with rhombic-ovate acute limb and nearly filiform claw: stamens 

 25 or 30; filaments filiform, or slightly enlarged under the minute roundish 

 anthers: berries rather obliquely oval, as large as peas, deep cherry, red, 

 or occasionally snow-white. — Common on wooded northward slopes, under 

 hazel bushes, etc., in the Berkeley Hills; also in the woods of the Coast 

 Bange from Santa Cruz Co. northward. Specimens from the mountains 

 of Fresno Co. seem doubtfully referable to this. Distinct enough from 

 the Old World A. spicata, which has emarginate petals, black berries, 

 etc.; more nearly allied to the East American .1. rubra. Feb. 



Oedek lii. SARMENT0S>E. 



L. Gerard, Flora Gallo-Provincialis, 378 (1761). Sarmentace^, Vent. 

 Tabl. iii. 167 (1799). Vinifer^, J. St.-Hilaire, Exp. Fam. Nat. ii. t. 79 

 (1805). AMPELiDEas, HBK. (1815). Vitace^, Lindl. lutr. 2 ed. 30 (1836). 

 ViTEs, Juss. (1789). 



A small family, important as containing the Grape; closely allied to 

 the Araliacese, and connecting with Rhamnese in some aspects of flower 

 and fruit; also with Ranimcvilacese, through ClematUi.i, in vegetative 

 characters, habit, etc. We have but one native species. 



1. VITIS, Varro (Grape). Shrubs with watery juice, climbing by 

 branching tendrils placed opposite the leaves. Flowers small, greenish, 

 very numerous, in thyrsiform clusters opposite the leaves. Calyx minute, 

 cup-like, with or without traces of 4 or 5 teeth. Petals 4 or 5, distinct 

 and spreading, or distinct at base only and united at apex, then falling 

 off like a calyptra. Stamens as many as the petals and opposite them, 

 inserted on a perigynous disk or elevation of the torus; filaments slender; 

 anthers introrse. Pistil with a short style or none; stigma slightly 

 2-lobed. Fruit baccate, 1 — 4-seeded. Seeds bony, rather large, grooved 

 on one side; embryo small, in a hard albumen. 



1. V. Califoniica, Benth. Bot. Sulph. 10 (1844). Stem often 1—2 in. 

 thick below, climbing trees to the height of 20 — 50 ft.: leaves 3 in. long, 

 nearly as broad, round-cordate with deep and narrow sinus, obtuse, 

 rather coarsely serrate, sometimes 3-lobed, canescently tomentose beneath, 

 and when young more or less so on both faces: fr. 4 lines thick, in large 

 clusters, purple, glaucous: seeds broad. — Along streams almost through- 

 out the State, except in the higher mountains; but also absent from the 

 immediate seaboard, especially in the northwestern districts. 



2. V. vinipera, Linn., the wine grape, native of the Old World, has 

 escaped from cultivation, and will occasionally be seen in a wild state. 



