VITEX 



VITIS 



3481 



The two species most often cultivated are shrubs or 

 small trees with deciduous digitate leaves and lilac- 

 blue or white flowers in terminal spikes or loose panicles 

 appearing in summer and autumn. The hardiest seems 

 to be V. \egundo var. incisa, which stands most ordi- 

 nary winters as far north as Massachusetts. V. Agnus- 



castus is hardy as 

 far north as New 

 York, in sheltered 

 positions. These 

 species are particu- 

 larly valuable for 

 their late-appearing 

 flowers. They grow 

 in almost any kind 

 of soil and prefer 

 rather dry sunny 

 situations. Most of 

 the species are in- 

 habitants of tropi- 

 cal and subtropical 

 regions and only a 

 few can be culti- 

 vated outdoors in 

 warmer temperate 

 regions. None of 

 these tender kinds 

 seems to be in cul- 

 tivation in this 

 country; in the Old 

 World they are 

 sometimes culti- 

 vated as greenhouse 

 plants. They thrive 

 in a sandy compost 

 of peat and loam. 

 Propagated by 

 seeds sown in spring 

 and by greenwood 

 cuttings under 

 glass ; also by layers. 



Agnus-castus, 

 Linn. CHASTE- 

 TREE. HEMP-TREE. 

 3952. Vitex Negundo var. incisa. ( X H) MONK'S PEPPER- 



TREE. Shrub or 



small tree, with a strong aromatic odor, grayish tomen- 

 tose: Ivs. long-stalked; Ifts. 5-7, lanceolate, acuminate, 

 narrowed at the base into a short stalk, entire or with 

 few coarse teeth, grayish-tomentose beneath, the mid- 

 dle one 3-4 in. long: the fls. in dense, sessile clusters, 

 forming terminal, often panicled spikes 5-7 in. long; 

 corolla usually pale or lilac, grayish outside, J^in. long; 

 stamens and stvle exserted. July-Sept. S. Eu., W. 

 Asia. Mn. 2, p. "44. G.C. III. 51:52. Var. alba, Rehd. 

 (V. albiflbra, Hort. Agnus-cdstus vulgaris alba, Carr.). 

 Fls. white. 



Negundo, Linn. Shrub or small tree with quadran- 

 gular branchlets: Ifts. usually 5, or occasionally 3, 

 stalked, elliptic-ovate to lanceolate, acuminate, serrate 

 or entire, grayish tomentulose beneath, lJ^-4 in. long: 

 fls. lilac or lavender, small, scarcely K m - l n g> stalked, 

 in rather loose clusters forming slender spikes usually 

 crowded into loose terminal panicles 5-8 in. long; 

 stamens and style slightly exserted. China, India. 

 Tender. Var. incisa, Clarke "(V. incisa, Lam. V. lacini- 

 ata, Hort.). Fig. 3952. Lfts. incisely serrate or almost 

 pinnatifid, %-3 in. long; the more extreme form with 

 deeply pinnatifid Ifts. and narrow remote segms. may 

 be distinguished as f. multifida, Rehd. (Agnus-cdstus 

 incisa var. multifida, Carr.). July- Aug. N. China, Mon- 

 golia. B.M. 364 (as V. Negundo). This variety is much 

 hardier than the type; it is less showy in bloom than 

 the preceding species, but a graceful shrub of loose and 

 open habit, with handsome foliage. 



V. iticifdlia, A. Rich. Lvs. simple, short-stalked, oval, spiny- 

 toothed: fls. in long-stalked, axillary, many-fid, cymes. Cuba. V. 

 Lindenii, Hook. f. Lfts. 3-5, elliptic or elliptic-obovate, glabrous- 

 fls. pale violet, in few-fld., axillary, long-stalked heads. Colombia. 

 B.M. 6230. V. lucent, T. Kirk (V. littoralis, A. Cunn.). Tree, to 

 60 ft., producing valuable hardwood: Ivs. long-stalked; Ifts. 3-5, 

 elliptic, almost acuminate, glabrous: fls. in axillary panicles, abun- 

 dant, dull red, 2-upped. New Zeal. V. trifolia. Linn. Lfts. usually 

 3, obovate or obovate-oblong, obtuse, entire: fls. blue, in terminal 

 panicles. S. Asia. Polynesia. Var. unifoliolata, Schauer. With a 

 solitary short-stalked 1ft. AlJRED REHDER. 



VITIS (classical Latin name). VINE. GRAPE. 

 Vitacex or Ampdidex. Tendril-climbers (some mem- 

 bers of the genus Cissus erect) grown as ornamental 

 vines but particularly for the edible fruits or grapes. 



The genus is variously denned, but if Cissus is 

 excluded it is distinguished as follows (Gray): Plants 

 climbing by the prehension and coiling of naked-tipped 

 tendrils: fls. polygamo-dicecious (i. e., some individuals 

 perfect and fertile, others sterile with at most only a 

 rudimentary ovary), 5-merous; corolla calyptrately 

 caducous the petals in anthesis cast off from the base 

 while cohering by their tips (Fig. 3954); hypogynous 

 disk of 5 nectariferous glands alternate with stamens; 

 style short and thick, or conical: berry pulpy; seeds 

 pyriform, with contracted beak-like base. A wide- 

 spread genus of the northern hemisphere, most abun- 

 dant in temperate countries. In its stricter limitations, 

 the genus includes less than 60 known species, but some 

 authors unite Cissus and Ampelopsis with it, when it 

 includes some 250 species. The standard monographer 

 (Planchon, DC. Monogr. Phaner. 5), refers 30 or more 

 species to Vitis in the main account and in the adden- 

 dum, and more than 200 to Cissus. N. Amer. is par- 

 ticularly rich in Vitis, not only in number of species but 

 in the widespread distribution and the abundance of the 

 plants. From the native species have been developed 

 the outdoor grapes of this country except those of 

 Calif, and the extreme S. W. (which are Vitis vinifera). 

 For an account of the evolution of these native cul- 

 tural varieties, see Bailey, Sketch of the Evolution of 

 Our Native Fruits; Hedrick's Grapes of New York, 

 a notable volume issued by the N. Y. Agric. Exp. Sta.; 

 also Munson, Foundations of American Grape Cul- 

 ture, 1909. For a sketch of Vitis and similar plants as 

 ornamental vines, with illustrations, see Veitch, Journ. 

 Roy. Hort. Soc. 28 (1903-4). For cult., and control of 

 insects and diseases, see Grape. For recent studies in 

 If. variation and in pollen sterility, see M. J. Dorsey, 

 Proc. Amer. Breeders' Assoc., vol. 7 (1912), and Bull. 

 No. 144, Minn. Exp. Sta. (1914). 



Many of the species of Vitis are excellent ornamental 

 plants, when it is desired to cover arbors, porches, or 

 trees; a number of the recently introduced oriental 



3953. Vitis. Forms of leaf on the same vine. 



species (some of them properly referable to Ampelopsis 

 and Parthenocissus) seem to be particularly interest- 

 ing for such use. All of them are readily grown from 

 seeds, and most of them from hardwood cuttings. Only 

 a few of the native species are regularly in the trade; 

 but with the possible exception of V. Treleasei they 

 have been offered for sale to experiment stations and 

 amateurs by the late T. V. Munson, of Texas, a well- 

 known authority on both the botany and horticulture 



