414 



The Journal of Heredity 



were made chiefl\' in a commercial 

 vine\-ard at New Smyrna, Fla., which 

 contained the largest collection of varie- 

 ties then in existence and was sur- 

 rounded by quantities of native vines 

 of 1'. mitnsoniana and \'. rotiindifolia, 

 the two species constituting the Mnsca- 

 dinia group. In the same year, follow- 

 ing the Florida work, other crosses were 

 made at several places in Georgia, 

 South Carolina, and North Carolina, 

 where desirable material had been 

 located. The seedlings resulting from 

 this work were projjagatcd in Washing- 

 ton and planted in the ex]jeriment 

 vineyard at Willard, N. C, as the first 

 seedling \-ineyard. Later when these 

 seedling \-ines began to fruit and 

 bloom, two of them were found to be 

 true hermaijhrodites, perfect-flowered, 

 and self-fertile, whereas the other seed- 

 lings and all other Muscadine grapes 

 were either staminate or pistillate.^ 

 The two original true hermaijhrodites 

 will be designated as HI and H2 in the 

 following discussion. HI was the result 

 of a cross at New Smyrna, Fla., between 

 the standard female variety Eden and 

 a wild, dark type, male, V. munsoniana 

 vine. H2 was the result of a cross at 

 Medoc Vineyard, Enfield, N. C, be- 

 tween the standard female variety 

 Scuppernong and a light type male 

 vine.' A large number of the seedlings 

 were of the same parentage as the two 

 hermaphrodites but male or female, like 

 other Nluscadines. From the two orig- 

 inal hermaphrodites other hermaphro- 

 dites have been ]jroduced, but the 

 Department has failed as yet to ]jroduce 

 a third hermaphrodite of distinct par- 

 entage.'' 



Of the two original hermaphrodite 

 seedlings, HI is V. munsoniana in type, 

 while H2 is entirely V. rotundi folia. 

 The former has small black berries in 

 relatively large clusters while the latter 

 has large light colored berries resembling 

 Scuppernon.g fruit, though not equal to 

 Scuppernong in quality. The self-fer- 

 tility of the latter is more pronounced. 



Having produced the two original 

 hermai)hrodites, the next step was to 

 multi]jly the type and to transmit the 

 hermaphroditic character to other seed- 

 lings. HI i:»roduced a little bloom in 

 1911. In addition to using this to 

 test the seedling itself {i. e., its pollen, 

 pistils, and fruit), sufficient bloom was 

 secured to pollinate two clusters of 

 Eden, its female parent. This cross 

 yielded two fruit clusters, one of eight 

 berries and one of twenty-two berries, 

 from W'hich 154 seeds were secured. 

 From these, fifty-four seedlings are now 

 living and fruiting. Thirty of these 

 (over 55%) are hennaphrodites and the 

 rest females. Apparently the seedlings 

 which in a normal Muscadine cross 

 would be males are in this case her- 

 maphrodites, or, figuratively, jjistils 

 have been inserted in the staminate 

 blossoms making true hermaphrodite 

 blossoms. These seedlings are as a 

 group intermediate between their par- 

 ents. The best are very prolific, large- 

 clustered, with average-size black berries 

 of good vinous flavor and good quality. 

 They are closely similar and fully equal 

 to Eden and in addition have the 

 hermajihrodite character. The better 

 representatives are being used as parents 

 in the breeding investigations. 



After being used in 1911, HI was 



- The flower type designated as pistillate or female is morphologically really an imperfect 

 hermaphrodite having rudimentary stamens. There is no true pistillate type of bloom among the 

 Musradinc grajjcs. 'Phe imperfect hermaphrodite bloom, however, behaves as a pistillate rather 

 than as a hcrmai)hroditc. 



^ Male and fruiting vines of the Muscadines are of two types, light and dark, and this color 

 character of the vine is correlated with the color of the fruit. Vines having reddish veins, young 

 tendrils, and growing tips produce dark fruit (pink, red, puri)lc, or black), while vines witli light 

 yellowish-green growing tips produce light fruit (yellow, bronze, ])carly, or green). The males 

 are classed likewi.'^c as indicated by their progeny. 



'' Since this ijai)cr was written the th.inl hermaphrodite of distinct parentage has been pro- 

 duced. As it began blooming only recently and has not yet fruited, further reference to it is 

 omitted. It is a vigf)nius vine of the light type and has set fruit readily under bags. Its pollen 

 germinates vigf>rously in sugar solution. It has been successfully used to pollinate standard 

 varieties anfl other hermaj)hrodites and it has been successfully jiollinated with pollen from 

 male and from other hcrmai)hrodite vines. It is the result of a cross in 1913 between two seedling 

 vines in the Muscadine Cinipc Experiment Vineyard at Willard, X. C. 



