VITACE^. (yiKE FAMILY.) 73 



Order 37. VITACE^. (Vine Family.) 



Climbing shrubs, with watery juice, alternate stipulate leaves, and 

 small greenish flowers in panicled or cymose clusters opposite the 

 leaves. — Calyx minute, truncated. Petals 4-5, hypogynous or peri- 

 gynous, valvate in the bud, deciduous. Stamens 4-5, opposite the 

 petals : anthers introrse. Ovary 2-celled, with 2 erect collateral ovules 

 in each cell. Style short or none : stigma slightly 2-lobed. Berry 

 1 - 4-seeded. Seeds anatropous, bony. Embryo minute at the base 

 of hard or fleshy albumen. Radicle inferior. — Leaves simple or 

 compound. Tendrils opj)osite the leaves. Flowers perfect or po- 

 lygamous. 



1. VITIS, L. Vine, Grape. 



Flowers polygamous. Petals 5, cohering at the top. free at the base. 

 Stamens 5. Disk thick, 5-lobed. Style short. — Leaves simple, eutire or 

 lobed, cordate. Inflorescence paniculate. Berry pulpy, edible. 



§ 1. ViTiS proper. Bavk loose and shreddj/ : tendrils forked: pith 

 interrupted at the nodes. 

 * Tendrils opposite each leaf {continuous). 

 -t— Leaves and branches woolli/. 



1. V. LabrUSCa, L. (Fox Grape.) Leaves broadly cordate, angularly 

 3 - 5-lobed, mucrouate-serrate, very woolly when young, at leugtli smoothish 

 above ; fertile panicles or racemes few-flowered ; berry lai'ge. — Kiver swamps, 

 Mississippi to Nortli Carolina. May -June. — Leaves 4' -6' wide. Berry 

 Y in diameter, purple or whitish, pleasant-flavored. 



* * Tendrils absent at euerij third leaf (intermittent), 

 •i— Leaves and branches pubescent. 



2. v. aestivalis, Michx. (Summer Grape.) Branchlets terete ; leaves 

 broadly conlate, the sinus rounded, entire, or obtusely 3-'.5-lobed, broadly 

 serrate, covered with a woolly mostly reddish pubescence, at length smooth 

 on both sides ; sterile panicle long and loose ; berry small, blue. — Woods and 

 thickets. June. — Stem climbing high. Leaves 4' -7' wide. Panicles 6' -12' 

 long. Berry 4"- 5" in diameter. 



3. v. einerea, Engelm. Cinereous-pubescent ; branchlets angular ; the 

 pubescence persistent ; leaves eutire or slightly 3-lobed, the sinus narrow ; 

 berries small, black, pleasantly acid ; otherwise like the preceding. — Low 

 ground along rivers, Florida, and westward. 



4. v. COriacea, Shuttlw. Leaves and branches white-downy ; leaves 2' 

 long, reniforni cordate, with the sinus broad and shallow, entire and with 

 undulate margins, or sharply 3 -5-lobed, glabrate above ; panicles dense, 

 shorter than the leaves, tlie pedicels smooth. — South Florida. — A low vine. 

 Berries 5" -6" in diameter, pleasantly acid. 



H— H— Leaves and branches smooth. 



5. V. COrdifolia, Michx. (Frost Grape ) Leaves 3' wide, cordate, 

 with an acute sinus, acuminate, entire or slightly 3-lobed, sharply toothed 



