Twenty-second annual Meeting. 43 



BOTANICAL NOTES, 1889. 



BY J. H. CARRUTH, LAWRENCE. 

 A NEW GKAPE. 



In July, 1883, the Botanical Gazette, published in Indiana, by Prof. J. M. Coulter, con- 

 tained a description by Dr. Engelman of theVitis palmata,Yahl. It is in no book which 

 I have; not even in Oyster or Loudon. I copied the article in full. The chief points 

 are that the young branches are red, angular, and ribbed; leaves palmate, with three 

 or five lobes, the lobes widest in the middle, and narrow below; berries black without 

 bloom, four or five lines in diameter; flowers in June, fruit ripe in October. Most 

 like Vitis riparia. In the spring of 1887, 1 several times noticed in Lawrence, grape- 

 vines with palmate leaves, and red, angular branches. Vitis palmata, I thought. In 

 the spring of 1888, to see what the fruit would be, I took up two and set them in my 

 garden. I got two, because our North American species are often imperfect, having 

 only stamens. They grew, and three more came up of their own accord. Some of 

 them grew more than twenty feet; but to my surprise, only the lower leaves were 

 palmate, the upper ones being like those of V. cordifolia, or V. riparia. 



In 1889 I thought I should have fruit; but when my vines blossomed, they had 

 only staminate blossoms. I found one in the park which had perfect blossoms. The 

 fruit in September was like that of the V. riparia. 



Is it a new species, or only a variety of V. riparia? The mulberry, Morus rubra, 

 has leaves both palmate and entire, and so some other trees. In the description of 

 V. palmata, it was said to have seeds different from other species. This point I did 

 not examine. 



VITIS ^STIVALIS. 



Wood, in describing this species, says leaves "with scattered ferruginous hairs 

 beneath." Eaton says leaves "in their young state rust, downy beneath." Gray 

 says, "young leaves downy, with large cobwebby hairs beneath; smoothish when 

 old." I have seen them in New York State and in Kansas in September perfectly 

 smooth. 



The fruit is commonly about one-fourth of an inch in diameter. In 1879 I saw 

 in Cherokee county a vine with fruit as large as that of the Concord. 



ACEK NIGBUM. 



Wood, Eaton and Loudon call it a species; Gray makes it a variety of A. sac- 

 charinum. In Watertown, N. Y., the two kinds are used about equally for shade 

 trees. There are no intermediates, which there would be if they were only varieties. 

 The differences not mentioned in the books are that the leaves of A. nigrum are 

 translucent, as one may see by looking through them towards the sun. A. sacchar- 

 inum is not so. 



The leaves of both have five lobes, the three upper ones large and having from 

 the middle of each a projection half an inch long. The three lobes have each two 

 angles. A. saccharinum has projections like those above mentioned from each of 

 the angles, making nine in all. A. nigrum has no such projections from the angles 

 — only three in all. 



A. saccharinum is found in Miami and Linn counties. A. nigrum is abundant at 

 Excelsior Springs, Mo. 



POLYGANDM EEECTUM. 



Wood and Gray both make it a variety of P. aviculare. Eaton and Loudon make 

 it a species. If it was only a variety, the variations would not be constant; but they 

 are. P. aviculare is never erect, but P. erectum is so always. The leaves of P. avic- 



