BOTANY. 170 



most important plants of the order are the various species of Vitis or Vine, 

 of which there are five species in the United States. One of these, Vitif^ 

 labrusca or the Fox grape of the northern States, is probably the progenitor 

 of the varieties known as the Isabella, the Catawba, and others. Vitis 

 vulpina, the Fox grape of the South, affords a pleasant fruit, and has probably 

 some cultivated varieties. The remaining North American species are of 

 little value. The native abode of the typical vine, Vitis vinifera, is not 

 known in its whole extent. It occurs wild in many ])arts of Europe, Asia, 

 and Africa, yet many localities of the kind may have been originally sup- 

 plied by plants which had been introduced from other places. Most authors 

 fix the original seat of this important species in the old Cyrenaica, in the 

 country between the Black and Caspian Seas. Here the vine attains to a 

 diameter of three to six inches, and mounts to the tops of the highest 

 trees. Omitting as unsuited to this part of our work, the details of Avine 

 manufacture, we shall proceed to mention some of the principal varieties 

 of this liquor as it occurs in commerce. 



Wines are distinguished in the first place into white and red. The white 

 are more or less yellow or brown, becoming darker by age; the red derive 

 their color from the skins of the grapes, which are allowed to remain in 

 contact with the juice for a certain length of time. Of the Rhenish wines 

 the Asmannshäuser is red, the Johannisberger, the Markobrunner, and tlu^ 

 Hochheimer, are white. The Leistenwein, Steinwein, Calmuth, Würzburger, 

 and Werthheimer, come from Franconia. The Melnicker comes from 

 Bohemia, Moselle from Trier and Coblentz: the Affenthaler from Baden. 

 The principal Hungarian wines are the Tokay, Menesch, Oedenburger, and 

 Ofen. The principal French wines are the white and red Bordeaux : 

 Medoc, Graves, and Burgundy : the champagnes, especially the foaming, 

 from Silleray, Epernay, &g. The Spanish wines are mostly yellowish 

 brown, or red, and sweet, as Sherry, Malaga, Benicarlo, &c. Port is a 

 highly prized Portuguese wine; Madeira wine, and the (!onst,antia from 

 the Cape of Good Hope, are much esteemed. Italian and Greek wines arc 

 generally excellent, but rarely, occur in commerce. 



Vitis vinifera, wine grape (pi. Q7,ßg. 8) ; a, a branch with flowers and 

 tendrils ; b, a bunch of grapes ; <?, ovary ; d, sexual apparatus ; <^, a perfect 

 flower; y, cross-section of ovar}' ; ^, pistil; ^, section of ovary; i-Ii\ seed. 



Order 176. Cedrelace^, the Mahogany Family. Calyx four- to five- 

 cleft, with imbricated aestivation. Petals four to five, with imbricated 

 aestivation. Stamens eight to ten, united below into a tube, sometimes 

 distinct, inserted into a hypogynous annular disk ; anthers bilocular. 

 acuminated, with longitudinal dehiscence. Ovary usually four- or five- 

 celled ; ovules anatropal, pendulous ; style simple; stigma peltate. Fruit 

 a capsule opening septifragally. Seeds winged ; albumen thin or ; embry«» 

 straight, erect ; cotyledons fleshy. Trees with alternate, pinnate, exstipulate 

 leaves. They are found in the tropical parts of America and Asia. 

 Lindley enumerates nine genera, including twenty-five species. Examples : 

 Cedrela, -Swietenia. This order includes as its most important species, 

 the mahogany tree, Swietenia mahogoni, a native of the West Indies and 



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