chalaza in a very small shallow basin, a little above the center of the back of seed, from chalaza 

 a shallow groove extends down back of seed to the beak, the ventral depressions diverge widely 

 from raphe, are short and distinct, of a lighter shade of color than body of seed. 



Plantlet: Very similar to V. cinerea, in having small pale green cordate seed-leaves, with 

 acute tips, but with shorter petioles. 



Viticultural Observations and Remarks 



This species was first brought to my notice in 1887 by Senor Luciana Blanco, of Guadalajara, 

 Mexico, who collected it for me repeatedly along streams in the Sierra Madra Mountains in the 

 State of Jalisco, near the city of Guadalajara. In 1895, Mr. C. M. Stuart sent me specimens of 

 it from near Montemorlos, State of Nuevo Leon, Mexico. I have growing a number of plants, 

 which have shown the habit of growth to be similar to, but perhaps stronger than V. cinerea. 



It germinates and foliates, with or before V. cinerea, but the leaf persists much later, or until 

 the vine is killed (at Denison, Texas) , it taking only 8 to 10 degrees of frost to destroy the vitality 

 of the vine above ground. 



In the Harvard Herbarium, Cambridge, I found the only other specimens in other collec- 

 tions known to me. These were collected by Dr. Edward Palmer in 1886, along the Blanco River, 

 Jalisco, and are included under the name V. Caribcea, D. C. 



While it is a closely allied species to V. Caribcea, it is not identical any more than is V. cinerea. 

 The Florida form of V. cinerea approaches nearer to V. Carib&a than does this. The smaller, 

 sharp-toothed, whitish woolly leaves with fl shaped basal sinus, and long taper point, the much smaller, 

 simple cluster, with short peduncle and berries with prunose bloom and different flavor , the easy growth 

 from cuttings, the much less angled annual wood, and separate distribution in a generally higher 

 altitude, 2000 to 6000 feet across the plateau of Central Mexico, with other differences, well 

 separate it from DeCandolle's species. 



It promises of little interest to viticulture. It is much less subject to mildew than V. Girdiana 

 and V. Californica, here at Denison, Texas. It may furnish a basis for hybridization to get 

 varieties for tropical countries. 



11. VITIS CARIB^EA, DeC. Prodr. 1, p. 634. (See Plate XX.) 



Synonyms: Numerous (see Ampelideae, Planchon, p. 331). 



Plant: "Attains large size, climbing high, lives to a great age" (Dr. D. Morris, Director 

 Botanical Gardens, Kingston, Jamaica). 



Roots: Not examined. 



Wood: Annual, thick, angled and irregularly striated with a few shallow striae; growing 

 tips not leafy and densely rusty tomentose; color dark chestnut, set with rusty woolly tomentum, 

 becoming floccose, and with short, stiff pubescence near the nodes; outer bark separating in thin 

 fibrous plates, and shedding second year, true bark in old vine checking fine, slowly shedding 

 by small bits, persistent, much resembling V. cinerea, in body of vine, wood dense, tough, fibrous, 

 sectional view, of annual wood, rays numerous, thin, pores large, abundant, nodes but little 

 enlarged, slightly bent; diaphragm very thick, buds globose or sub-conical with rusty wool at 

 the summit; tendrils once or twice forked, long striated, rusty woolly when young, very strong, 

 internodes medium to long, 4' to 5' or more; pith nearly twice the thickness of the wood, firm, 

 insensibly passing into the diaphragm. 



Leaves: Stipules minute, rusty woolly; petiole about % the length of midrib, slender, 

 rusty tomentose or pubescent, narrowly grooved above, attached to blade at obtuse angle; 

 blade in length about the same as in width or slightly more, averaging 4' to 5'; shape orbicular, 

 cordate or truncate at base, plane; basal sinus shallow, broadly A shaped or wanting, shoulders 

 short-acute or wanting ; apex, short, slender, acute', margin entire, smooth; teeth mere mucrons, near 

 together, with a slight scallop between; venation from 6 or more, commonly 7 pairs of prominent, 

 little rusty ribs, each of which ends directly in a mucron; nerves between the ribs also prominent: 



62 



