V.ERMONT Shrubs and Woody Vines 137 



VINE FAMILY. VITACEAE 



Th general likeness of our two representatives of this family, 

 the grapes and Virginia creepers, would lead any close observer 

 to class them together. They are vines climbing by compound 

 tendrils which are borne opposite the leaves — a family mark — 

 and all bear fruit of similar structure and appearance. The well 

 marked difference is that the grapes have simple leaves while the 

 Virginia creeper leaves are compounded of five leatiets. 



THE GRAPES. 



The grapes reach their best development in a warmer climate 

 than this, yet in right locations in Vermont both the wild and 

 certain cultivated varieties of grape flourish. When one recalls 

 that the splendid European raisin and wine grapes, now so much 

 grown in California with berries as large as small plums, origin- 

 ated from an Asiatic species having berries not larger than cur- 

 rants, and that all the grapes cultivated in eastern America have 

 been produced within a century from wild American species, he 

 may readily believe that in time hardier and better varieties, 

 which will thrive and ripen anywhere in our territory, will be se- 

 cured from American stock. 



The three native wild species may be distinguished as fol- 

 lows : 

 1. Leaves densely rusty-woolly on under side Fox grape. 



1. Leaves -not rusty woolly 2. 



2. Leaves pale or glaucous on under side Summer grape. 



2. Leaves green on under side River grape. 



RIVER GRAPE. Vitis vnlpina L. {V. riparia Mx.) 



• This is the commonest wild grape of Vermont. It passes 

 under several common names ; riverbank grape, from its favorite 

 habitat; frost grape, from its late ripening which may come 

 after the early frosts ; sweet-scented grape, from the delightful 

 fragrance of the flowers which open with the June roses. It 

 will grow in a wide variety of soils and situations but is most 



