36 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. 



SOLONIS. 

 Resistance to phylloxera, 14. 



This is a hybrid of the Vitis Candicans, Vitis Riparia, and Vitis 

 Rupestris. 



Mr. T. V. Munson has made a special species of a group of which 

 Solonis is a type. He calls it Vitis Novo Mexicana; but there is little 

 doubt that it is a hybrid. 



Though this vine has but moderate resistance, it is especially valuable 

 for cold, compact soils that are too moist for any other American vine 

 except the Lenoir. Its special value for California is its quality of 

 growing well in salty or alkali lands where no other resistant would live. 

 In dry or poor soils it will perish from the phylloxera. 



DOANIANA. 



This is also a hybrid of the same species as the Solonis, but Mr. Mun- 

 son has classed it as a species calling it Vitis Doaniana. There is no 

 doubt at all but that it is a hybrid. There are several forms of it, as 

 is the case with every group of hybrids. Some interest has been created 

 in this State concerning it, and two of the best forms have been pro- 

 cured from Mr. Munson's valuable nursery in Texas. The two forms 

 thus far imported are the late and early Doaniana. It is valueless as a 

 direct producer, having far too many of the characteristics of the Mus- 

 tang. As a stock, it is vastly inferior to the Solonis, and has been 

 abandoned in other countries. 



VITIS CALIFORNICA. 



This species is found in all parts of California, extending partly into 

 Oregon and Arizona. It is one of the most beautiful of all the Ameri- 

 can vines. There are numberless forms of this species, differing widely 

 in their characteristics and habits. Mr. Munson has formed two species 

 out of what the other ampelographers call the Vitis Calif ornica namely, 

 the Vitis Calif ornica, found in the northern part of the State, growing 

 only on the rich, moist banks of streams, and the Vitis Girdiana, found 

 chiefly in the southern part of the State, growing in the dry, sandy soils 

 of that region. This making of two distinct species I think is a mis- 

 take, and I shall regard them as two groups of one species. 



Many suppose that because all the other American vines resist 

 the phylloxera almost equally well, this is the case with the Vitis 

 Californica. This is an error. The flora of California differ sensi- 

 bly from that of the eastern part of the United States; and the wild 

 grapevine of this State, while having preserved a little of the resist- 

 ing qualities of the Eastern species, evidently came out here in ages 

 when the full resistance to the phylloxera was not wholly developed. 

 Certain it is that the resistance to the phylloxera is very low, but little 

 better than that of the Vitis Vinifera, being but 4 out of a possible 20. 

 It grows so vigorously in its native habitat that many suppose that its 

 resistance is much greater than it really is. In judging of the resistance 

 of a vine, however, one must not be governed by its growth or vigor, but 

 by the nature of the cancerous spots caused by the phylloxera on its 

 roots. As has been shown, a vine may possess a very feeble resistance 

 to phylloxera, and yet maintain its vigor for some time by reason of its 



