72 SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT 



The form of the leaves is extremely variable, and descriptions must necessarily 

 remain vague. Leaves of seedling plants are all entire, i. e. not lobed ; young shoots 

 from the base of old stems, as a rule, have deeply and variously lobed leaves, even 

 ■where the mature plant shows no such disposition. Some species * or some forms of a 

 few species f have all the leaves more or less lobed, while others exhibit on the mature 

 plant onlj% entire, or, I should rather say, 7iot lobed leaves. Only the leaves of 

 flower-bearing canes ought to be considered as the normal ones. 



The surface of the leaves is glossj' and shining, and mostly bright green ; or it is 

 dull above and more or less glaucous below. The glossy leaves ai'e perfectly glabrous, 

 or they often bear, especially on the nerves of the lower side, a pubescence of short 

 hair. The dull leaves are cottony or cobwebby, downy on both or only on thv? under 

 side; and this down often extends to the young branches and to the peduncles, but as 

 has been stated above, often disappears later in the season. 



One of the most distinctive and permanent characters of the Grape-vines is found' 

 in the seeds. The berries vavlj be larger or smaller, of different color and consistency, 

 and contain fewer or more seeds (nevermore than four), but the seeds, though to some 

 extent variable, especially on account of their number and mutual pressure, where 

 more than onej is present, exhibit some reliable differences. The big top of the seed 

 is convex or rounded, or it is more or less deeply notched. On the inner (ventral) side 

 are two shallow longitudinal depressions. Between them is a slight (where there 

 are one or two seeds) or a sharper (where the seeds are in threes or fours) ridge, along 

 which the raphe (the attached funiculus or cord) is noticed running from the Ai^ww, 

 at the lower, thin end of the seed, along this ridge over the top of the seed, and ending 

 on its back in an oval or circular well-marked spot, called by botanists chalaza. This 

 raphe is either indistinct, scarcely perceptible, or it is more or less prominent, like a 

 stout thread, especially where it crosses the top of the seed. In our American species 

 these characters seem pretty reliable, but in the varieties of the old world Grape-vine 

 (yinifera), several thousands of years removed from their native sources, the form of 

 the seed has also undergone important modifications, and can no longer be considered 

 such a safe guide as in our species. 



It is interesting to know that since the times of Linnaeus and of Michaux, not a 

 single real species has been added to those belonging to the territory of the old United 

 States, east of the Mississippi river, though Eafinesque, LeConte, and perhaps others^ 

 have attempted to distinguish and characterize a great many more ; while Director Re- 

 gel, of the St. Petersburg botanic garden, has lately attempted, rather unnaturally, to 

 contract them and to unite them with old world species — Vitis vinifei-a resulting, ac- 

 cording to his views, from the hybridization of several of these species. 



The number of true Grape-vines (bearing edible fruit) in the present territory of 

 the United States, considered good species, is limited to nine, which, according to their 

 economical value, may be enumerated thus : 



Jr. Gffipc-rines ivhleli liai-e ytcldol our different cultivated vdrieti-es : 



i. ViTis Labrusca, Lin. Northern Fox Grape. 



2. Vitis .^stivalis, Michx. Summer Grape. 



3. Vitis riparia, Michx. Riverside Grape. 



4. Vitus VULPINA, Lin. Southern Fox or Muscadine. 



• Vitis riparia, 



+ Forms of Vitis Labrtisca and of Vitis astivalis. 



lA sniffle Heed is always thicker, iihimper, more rounded; two seeds are flattened on the inner, 

 rounded on file outer sidt-; three or four seeds are nioie or less angular; these ditlerent variations may 

 t^ometijues he found in berries of the same bunch. 



