VITACE^. (vine family.) 113 



embryo at the base of the hard albumen, which is grooved on one side. 

 — Stipules deciduous. Leaves alternate, palmately veined or compound ; 

 tendrils and flower-clusters opposite the leaves. Flowers small, greenish, 

 commonly polygamous. (Young shoots, foliage, etc., acid.) 



* Ovary surrouuded by a nectariferous or glanduliferous disk ; plants climbing by the coiling 



of naked-tipped tendrils. 



1. Vitis. Corolla caducous without expanding. Hypogynous glands 5, alternate with the 



stamens. Fruit pulpy Leaves simple. 



2. Cissus. Corolla expanding. Disk cupular. Berry with scanty pulp, inedible. Leaves 



simple or pinnately compound. 



* * No distinct hypogynous disk ; plants climbing by the adhesion of the dilated tips of the 



tendril-branches. 



3. Ampelopsis. Corolla expanding. Leaves digitate. 



1. VITIS, Tourn. Grape. 



Flowers polygamo-dioeclous (some plants with perfect flowers, others stam- 



inate with at most a rudimentary ovary), 5-merous. Calyx very short, usually 



with a nearly entire border or none at all. Petals separating only at base and 



falling off without expanding. Hypogynous disk of 5 nectariferous glands 



alternate with the stamens. Berry pulpy. Seeds pyriform, with beakdike 



base. — Plants climbing by the coiling of naked-tipped tendrils. Flowers in a 



compound thyrse, very fragrant; pedicels mostly umbellate-clustered. Leaves 



simple, rounded and heart-shaped. (The classical Latin name.) 



§ 1. VITIS proper. Bark loose and shreddy ; tendrils forked ; nodes solid. 



-1- A tendril (or inflorescence) opposite each leaf 



1. V. Labriisca, L. (Northern Fox-Grape.) Branchlets and young 

 leaves very woolly ; leaves large, entire or deeply lobed, slightly dentate, con- 

 tinuing rusty -woolly beneath ; fertile panicles compact ; berries large. — Moist 

 thickets, N. Eng. to the Alleghany Mountains, and south to S. Car. June. 

 Fruit ripe in Sept. or Oct., dark purple or amber-color, with a tough musky 

 pulp. Improved by cultivation, it has given rise to the Isabella, Catawba, 

 Concord and other varieties. 



■!- -f- Tendrils intermittent {none opposite each third leaf). 

 •*-*■ Leaves pubescent and foccose, especiall t/ beneath and when young. 



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

 large, entire or more or less deeply and obtusely 3 - 5-lobed, with short broad 

 teeth, very woolly and mostly red or rusty when young ; berries middle-sizedj 

 black with a bloom, in compact bunches. — Thickets ; common. May, June, 

 Berries pleasant, ripe in Hfept. — V. bicolor, LeCoute, has its leaves smoothish 

 when old and pale or glaucous beneath; common north and westward. 



3. V. Cili6rea, Engelm. (DowxY Grape.) Branchlets angular; pu 

 bescence whitish or grayish, persistent ; leaves entire or slightly 3-lobed ; 

 inflorescence large and loose ; berries small, black without bloom. — Central 

 111. to Kan. and Tex. 



H-<- ++ Leaves glabrous and mostly shining, or short-hairy especially on the ribs 

 beneath, incisely lobed or undivided 



4. V. C0rdif61ia, Michx (Frost or Chicken Grape.) Leaves 3 -4' 

 wide, not lobed or slightly 3 lobed, cordate with a deep acute sinus, acuminate. 



