70 VITACE^E. (VINE FAMILY.) 



***** Flowers perfect, in an open panicle, the pedicels mostly abortive, elongat- 

 ing, and plumose : drupe smooth. 



9. R. COtinoides, Nutt. Smooth ; leaves simple, membranaceous, oval, 

 obtuse, entire, acute at the base, the upper ones long-petioled ; panicle nearly 

 sessile, narrow, with erect branches ; flowers minute. Interior of Alabama, 

 Buckley. Leaves, with the petiole, 3' - 4' long. 



ORDER 38. VITACE^E. (VINE FAMILY.) 



Climbing shrubs, with watery juice, opposite stipulate leaves, and small 

 greenish flowers in panicled clusters opposite the leaves. Calyx minute, 

 truncated. Petals 4 -5, hypogynous or perigynous, valvate in the bud, 

 deciduous. Stamens 4-5, opposite the petals : anthers introrse. Ovary 

 2-celled, with 2 erect collateral ovules in each cell. Style short or none : 

 stigma slightly 2-lobed. Berry 1-4-seeded. Seeds anatropous, bony. 

 Embryo minute at the base of hard or fleshy albumen. Radicle inferior. 

 L/eaves simple or compound. Tendrils opposite the leaves. "Flowers 

 perfect or polygamous, 



1. VITIS, L. VIKE. GRAI>E. 



Petals distinct, or remaining united at the apex and separating at the base, 

 inserted into a 4-5-lobed or cup-shaped disk which surrounds the ovary. 

 ,1. Cissbs. Flowers perfect: petals and stamens 4-5 : style conspicuous: 

 stigma minute : leaves simple or compound. 



1. V. bipinnata, Torr. & Gray. Leaves bipinnate, smoothish; leaflets 

 small, ovate, sharply toothed; flowers somewhat cymose, on a long forking 

 peduncle ; petals 4-5, united at the apex, separating at the base ; style conical ; 

 disk 4 - 5-lobed ; berry 2 - 4-seeded. ( Ampelopsis bipinnata, Michx.) Margins 

 of swamps, Florida and northward. June and July. Tendrils none. Leaflets 

 1'long. Berry small, black. 



2. V. acida, L. Branches geniculate ; leaves trifoliolate, thick and rigid ; 

 leaflets small, cuneate-obovate, sharply toothed at the apex; flowers in com- 

 pound umbels ; petals 4, united at the apex, separating at the base ; style slen- 

 der; disk cup-shaped, entire; berry black, 1 -seeded. Key West. Tendrils 

 stout and elongated. Leaflets ' long. Branchlets and peduncles flattened 

 and elongated. Leaves and parts of the panicle separating in drying, as also in 

 the next species. 



3. V. incisa, Nutt. Smooth; stem climbing, warty; leaves trifoliolate, 

 very thick and fleshy ; leaflets stalked, wedge-shaped and entire near the base, 

 the lateral ones 2-lobed, the middle 3-lobed, all mucronate-toothed or serrate ; 

 berry (purple) globose-ovate, nodding, pointed with the conspicuous slender style, 

 1 -seeded. Sandy shores of St. Vincent's Island, West Florida and westward. 

 Trailing in November. Stem 6 -12 long. Leaflets l'-3' long. Panicles 



Berry 5'' - 6" long. Flowers not seen. 



