VINE FAMILY. 85 



branches and stalks, and large leaves of 11 -31 lance-oblong pointed and serrate 

 leaflets. Worthy to be planted for ornament. 



R. glabra, Smooth S. Shrub 2° -12° high, in rocky places, like the 

 last, but smooth, the leaflets whitened beneath. — Var. laciniata, in Penn., 

 has the leaflets cut into narrow irregular lobes : planted for ornament. 



R. eopallina, Dwarf S. Shrub l°-5° high, in rocky or sandy ground, 

 spreading by subten-anean slioots ; with downy stalks or branches, petioles 

 winged or broadly margined between the 9-21 oblong or lance-ovate oblique 

 leaflets, which are thickish and shining above ; juice resinous. 



•t- -<- Leaves of 3 cut-lobed leaflets: flowers light yellow, in spring before the leaves 

 appear, dioecious, in small scaly-bracted and catkin-like spikes. 



R. aromatica, Fragrant S. A straggling bush in rocky places, from 

 Vermont W. & S., with the small rhombic-ovate leaflets pubescent when young, 

 aromatic-scented. 



32. VITACE^, VINE FAMILY. 



Woody plants, climbiug by tendrils, with watery and often acid 

 juice, alternate leaves, deciduous stipules, and small greenish flow- 

 ers in a cyme or thyrsus ; with a minutely 4 - 5-toothed or almost 

 obsolete calyx ; petals valvate in the bud and very deciduous ; the 

 stamens as many as the petals and opposite them ; a 2-celled ovary 

 with a pair of ovules rising from the base of each cell, becoming 

 a berry containing 1 — 4 bony seeds, tendrils and flower-clusters 

 opposite the leaves. 



1. VITIS. Calyx very short, a fleshy disk connecting it with the base of the 



o'^arv and bearing the petals and stamens. 



2. AMPELOPSIS. Calyx minutely 5-toothed : no disk. Petals expanding 



before they fail. Leaflets 5. 



1. VITIS, GKAPE-VINE. (The classical Latin name.) Fl. in late spring. 



§ 1. True Grapes. Petals and stamens 5, the former lightly cohering at the 

 top and throirn off ivithout expanding : the base of the very short and trun- 

 cate calyx filled with the disk, which rises into 5 thick lobes or glands between 

 the stamens : leaves simple, rounded and heart-shaped, usually 3 - 5-lobed. 

 » Flowers all perfect, somctvhat fragrant : exotic. 

 V. vinifera, European Grape. Cult, from immemorial time, from the 

 East, furnishing the principal grapes of our greenhouses, &c. ; some varieties 

 nearly hardy N. : leaves green, cottony only when very young. 



* * Flowers more or less polygamous (some plants inclined to produce only stami- 



nate flowers), exhaling a fragrance like that of Mignonette : native species. 

 •<- Bark of stem early separating in loose strips : panicles compound and loose. 

 V. Labrusea, Northern Fox-Grape, the original of the Catawba, 

 Isabella, and furnishing most of the American table and wine grapes ; com- 

 mon in moist grounds N. & W. : leaves and young shoots very cottony, even 

 the adult leaves retaining the cottony wool underneath, the lobes separated by 

 roundish sinuses ; fruit large, with a tough musky pulp when wild, dark 

 purple or amber-color, in compact clusters. 



V. sestiVcllis, Summer Grape. Common N. & S. ; leaves green above, 

 and with loose cobwebby down underneath, the lobes witli roundish open 

 sinuses ; clusters slender ; fruit smaller and earlier than in the foregoing, black 

 with a bloom, pleasant. Original of the Clinton Grape, &c. 



V. eordifolia, Winter or Frost Grape. Common on banks of streams : 

 leaves never cottony, green both sides, thin, heart-shaped, little lobcd, but coarse- 

 ly and sharply toothed; clusters loose; fruit small, bluisli or black with a 

 bloom, very sour, rijjc after frosts. Var. ripXria, the common form along 

 river-banks W. has broader and more cut or lobed leaves. 



