VITIS 673 



toothed, broadly ovate or roundish, 3 to 7 ins. wide and long; the base heart- 

 shaped; upper surface dark green, becoming smooth, lower one covered 

 with rusty-coloured (at first whitish) wool; stalk more than half as long as 

 the blade. Panicles 2 to 4 ins. long. Berries globose, f in. diameter, thick- 

 skinned, dark purple with a musky or foxy aroma. 



Native of Eastern N. America from New England southwards; introduced 

 in 1656. Of the wild grape vines of N. America this is the most important 

 in an economic sense, and has produced more varieties cultivated for their 

 fruit than any other. It is a vigorous species, and although it has not the 

 least value as a fruiting vine in this country, it is worth growing for its fine 

 foliage and luxuriant growth. It is distinguished among all the true Vitis 

 by having a tendril or an inflorescence opposite each leaf. 



V. LEEOIDES, Maximowicz. 



(Ampelopsis leeoides, Plane hon.} 



A deciduous climber of the Ampelopsis group, and allied to V. megalo- 

 phylla; leaves pinnate, occasionally doubly pinnate, up to I ft. in length. 

 Leaflets five or seven, the basal pair sometimes again divided into three; 

 oval or oblong, i| to 4| ins. long, f to 2 ins. wide; rounded or broadly 

 tapered at the base, terminating in a long, slender point; sparsely toothed, 

 lustrous green above, claret purple beneath, and, like the young shoots, 

 perfectly smooth. 



Originally collected by Maximowicz at Nagasaki, Japan, in 1863, and 

 named by him as above, this handsome vine (or what has hitherto been 

 regarded as the same) was found in Central China, and introduced for 

 Messrs Veitch by Wilson in 1900. I do not know that the trifoliolate 

 leaflets seen at the base of the leaf in Maximowicz's type have been produced 

 by cultivated plants, and it is quite possible Wilson's plant may prove to 

 be a distinct species. It is at any rate very distinct among cultivated vines, 

 and, as seen trained up a pole in the Coombe Wood nursery, strikingly 

 handsome. 



V. MEGALOPHYLLA, Veitch. 

 (Ampelopsis megalophylla, Die/ , Bot. Mag., t. 8537.) 



A vigorous deciduous climber; young shoots rather glaucous, and, like 

 the rest of the plant, quite smooth. Leaves doubly pinnate (the upper and 

 smaller ones simply pinnate), from i^ to 2 ft., sometimes more, long, and 

 nearly as wide. The larger ones are composed of seven or nine segments, 

 the one or two lowest pairs of which are again pinnately divided. Leaflets 

 of variable shape and size, but mostly ovate or ovate-oblong, deep green 

 above, glaucous beneath; 2 to 6 ins. long, I to 3 ins. wide; coarsely toothed, 

 each tooth terminated by a minute abrupt point. Flowers produced in 

 August in a sparse, .slenderly branched inflorescence, each branch terminating 

 in a cyme. Fruit top-shaped, ^ in. diameter, black. 



Native of W. China; introduced to France in 1894 by Mr Maurice de 

 Vilmorin, and by him distributed as V. cantoniensis a different and prob- 

 ably not hardy vine. Wilson introduced V. megalophylla for Messrs Veitch 

 in 1900, and from their nursery it has in recent years been distributed. 

 In some respects it is the most remarkable of all hardy vines. Its leaves 

 are larger than those of any other in cultivation, suggesting at their biggest 

 the leaves of Aralia cordata. Planted in good soil and trained up a lofty 

 post (it should be 15 ft. high), this vine provides a very striking effect. It 

 has made growths 8 to 10 ft. long in one season at Coombe Wood. 



