THE MUSCADINES 99 



point (but somewhat contracted above the termination of the 

 two main side veins), the under surface finely reticulated 

 between the veins, the teeth and the apex angular, coarse 

 and acute, the basal sinus shallow, broad and edentate ; 

 petiole slender and (like the young growth) fine-scurfy, about 

 the length of the leaf -blade: tendrils (or flower -clusters) 

 discontinuous, every third node being bare: fruit-bearing 

 clusters smaller than the sterile ones, and ripening from three 

 to twenty grapes in a nearly globular bunch: berries falling 

 from the cluster when ripe, spherical or nearly so and large 

 (half inch to inch in diameter), with very thick and tough 

 skin and a tough, musky flesh, dull purple in color without 

 bloom (in the Scuppernong variety silvery amber-green), 

 ripe in summer and early autumn; seeds %- to %-inch long, 

 shaped something like a coffee berry. Grows on river banks, 

 swamps, and rich woodlands and thickets, S. Delaware to 

 N. Florida and west to Kansas and Texas. Known to vine- 

 yardists chiefly as the parent of the Scuppernong. Has been 

 hybridized with V. Labrnsca, V. rupestris, and V. vinifera. 



Vitis Munsoniana, Simpson. (Mustang Grape of Florida, Bird or 

 Everbearing Grape.) Very slender grower, preferring to run 

 on the ground or over low bushes, more nearly evergreen 

 than the last, flowering more or less continuously: leaves 

 smaller, thinner, and more shining, more nearly circular in 

 outline and less prominently pointed; the teeth broader in 

 proportion to the blade, and more open or spreading: clus- 

 ters larger and more thyrse-like: berries a half smaller than 

 in the last, and often more numerous, shining black, with 

 a more tender pulp, acid juice, no muskinesss, and thinner 

 skin; seeds half smaller than in the last. Dry woods and 

 sands, Florida, at Jacksonville, Lake City, and southwards, 

 apparently the only grape on the reef keys; also in the 

 Bahamas. Difficult to distinguish from V, rotundifolia in 

 herbarium specimens, but distinct in the field! Not in do- 

 mestication. 



II. EUVITIS, the true grapes. Bark without distinct lenticels, 

 on the old wood separating in long thin strips and fibers; nodes 

 provided with diaphragms ; tendrils forked; flower-clusters mostly 



