772 



VIT 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL ; 



ULE 



6.. Vitis Vulpina ; Fox Grape or Vine. Leaves cordate, 

 tooth-serrate, naked on both sides. Stem shrubby, climbing 

 by tendrils; berries black, with a disagreeable flavour, re- 

 sembling the nauseous scent of a fox, whence its ntvme. Na- 

 tive of Virginia. 



7. Vitis Heterophylla ; Various -leaved Vine. Leaves 

 simple, gash three-lobed and five-lobed, serrate, naked. 

 Stem climbing, somewhat angular, smooth and even, jointed, 

 knobbed ; branches alternate, spreading, resembling the stem ; 

 flowers axillary ; corollas white. Native of Japan, where it 

 flowers in July and August. 



8. Vitis Laciniosa; Parsley-leaved Vine. Leaves quinate; 

 leaflets multifid. The stalks and branches of this species 

 resemble those of the Common Grape; the fruit is round, 

 white, and disposed in loose bunches. There is a variety 

 with red fruit. Long known in gardens, but its native coun- 

 try uncertain. It is planted against walls, and treated in the 

 same way as the common Vines. 



9. Vitis Hederacea; Ivy-leaved Vine. Leaves quinate, 

 ovate, acuminate, toothed. Said to be a native of North 

 America: well known in England, where it is cultivated as 

 an ornamental climber to cover buildings. It flourishes in 

 the closest courts and alleys of the metropolis. In autumn, 

 the leaves, before they fall, assume splendid tints of red and 

 orange. 



10. Vitis .Estivalis ; Summer Grape. Leaves broadly cor- 

 date, three or five-lobed, finely toothed, downy and rusty 

 when young; clusters oblong. Berries small, dark bine, 

 very agreeable to eat, and frequently converted into a good 

 home-made wine. Found in fields and woods from Virginia 

 to Carolina, flowering in May and June. 



11. Vitis Arborea ; Pepper Vine. Leaves superdecom- 

 pound; lateral leaflets pinnate. Stem woody, sending out 

 many slender branches, which climb by tendrils; flowers 

 axillary, in loose bunches, very small, white, composed of 

 five small petals, which fall off soon after they expand. They 

 are not succeeded by any fruit in England ; but the berries 

 which come from North America, their native country, have 

 three seeds in each. This is preserved in gardens for the 

 sake of variety, but it rarely produces flowers in England, and 

 has not much beauty. It is generally propagated by laying 

 down the young branches, which will put out roots in one 

 vear fit to remove, when they may be taken off and trans- 

 planted where they are to remain. They require support, 

 and as their young branches are tender, and liable to be 

 killed by frost, when planted against a will or pale exposed 

 to the south, they will succeed much better than when exposed 

 to the open air, and propped. The young shoots should be 

 shortened down to two or three buds in the spring. 



12. Vitis Cordifolia ; Heart-leaved Vine. Leaves cordate, 

 acuminate, inciso-dentate, glabrous on both sides ; racemes 

 loosely multiflorous; berries small, green or amber-coloured, 

 ripening very late, and of a very tart taste. Grows on the 

 edges of risers, and in woods, from Canada to Florida. 



13. Vitis Riparia; Sweet-scented Vine. Leaves unequally 

 inciso-dentate, very slightly trifid ; petiole pubescent at the 

 nerves and margin ; flowers of an exquisitely fine smell, 

 somewhat resembling Reseda Odorata. The female plants are 

 very seldom found north of the Potomac river, though the 

 male extend very far beyond it. Grows on tho gravelly shores 

 nd islands of the rivers from Pennsylvania to Carolina. 



14. Vitis Rotundifolia. Leaves lucid on both sides, reni- 

 form-cordate, subequally dentate ; berries very large, dark 

 blue, agreeable, commonly called Bull or Bullet Grapes. 

 Grows on river sides and islands, from Virginia to Florida, 

 flowering in June and July. 



Vitmannia; a genus of the class Octandria, order Mono- 

 gynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth one-leafed, 

 short, four-cleft ; segments rounded, concav within, convex 

 without. Corolla: petals four, linear, oblong, little concave, 

 thickish, hoary on the outside, obtuse, unguicular; nectary 

 a small obovate scale at the base of each filamentum, shorter 

 on the alternate ones. Stamina: filamenta eight, a little 

 shorter than the petals, smooth ; antherse linear, subbifid at 

 the base. Pistil: germen superior, four-lobed ; lobes semi- 

 orbicular, compressed, slightly connate, easily separable from 

 one another; style simple, awl-shaped, length of the fila- 

 menta; stigma acute. Pericarp: nut semilunar, compressed, 

 one-celled, valveless. Seed : one, large, obovate-sickled, tur- 

 gidly lenticular, smooth. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix: 

 four-cleft. Corolla: four-petalled. Nectary: a scale at the 

 base of each filamentum. Nut: semilunar, compressed, one- 

 seeded. The only known species is, 



1. Vitmannia Elliptica. It is a tree, with round smooth 

 branches, compressed a little at the tip; leaves alternate, a 

 hand and more in length, elliptic, obtuse, quite entire, smooth 

 on both sides, veined, stiffish, on a short petiole, which is 

 flattish above, but convex underneath ; fruit a corky or 

 woody nut, compressed like a lens, bigger than the palm 

 of the hand, or scarcely an inch in diameter, and from a 

 narrow beginning widening gradually into the shape of a fly's 

 wing, but always somewhat concave and snail-shaped. 

 Native of the East Indies. 



Ulex ; a genus of the class Diadelphia, order Decandria. 

 GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth two-leaved, per- 

 manent ; leaflets ovate-oblong, concave, straight, equal, 

 a little shorter than the keel ; upper leaflet two-toothed, 

 lower three-toothed. Corolla: papilionaceous, five-petalled ; 

 standard obcordate, emarginate, erect, very large; wings 

 obtuse, oblong, shorter than the standard ; keel two-petalled, 

 straight, obtuse, converging by the lower margin. Stamina: 

 tilamenta diadelphous, simple, and nine-cleft ; antheree simple. 

 Pistil: germen oblong, cylindrical, hirsute; style filiform, 

 rising; stigma obtuse, very small. Pericarp: legume ob- 

 long, turgid, scarcely longer than the calix, straight, one- 

 celled, two-valved. Seeds: few, roundish, emarginate. 

 ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix: two-leaved. Legume: 

 scarcely longer than the calix. Filamenta: all connected. 

 -The species are, 



1 . Ulex Europreus ; Common Furze, Whin, or Gorse. 

 Calix-teeth obsolete, converging; bractes ovate, lax; branch- 

 lets erect. It varies from two to six feet in height ; the branches 

 are very close, deeply furrowed, woolly or hirsute, full of 

 thorns, which are stretched out, branched, angular, ivery 

 sharp, smooth, evergreen, leafy ; peduncles axillary, single, 

 or two together, one-flowered, villose; corolla half as long 

 again as the calix, bright yellow, or "old-coloured, having 

 the smell of honey so strong as to scent the whole air when 

 the flowers are in full vigour. Native of Britain, Denmark, 

 Brabant, France, Portugal, and some parts of Germany, on 

 dry, gravelly, and sandy heaths and commons. It abounds 

 more in Portugal and the south of France than in any other 

 country, except our own. In the south of England it is 

 called Furze; in the eastern counties Whins; and in the 

 northern Gorse. Some years ago, the seeds were sown for 

 hedges, and in light soils it soon formed a strong fence, but 

 in a few years these hedges became naked at bottom, and 

 some of the plants failing they fell into disuse. On very 

 poor hungry sand or gravel, it. has produced more profit than 

 any other crops, especially where fuel is dear, as it may be 

 used in heating ovens, burning lime and bricks, and for 

 malt-drying ; and the ashes may be used for making ley. It 



