VITIS 



VITIS 



of the grape. The popular interest in these species is 

 primarily pomological; for, although the fruit may not 

 be directly useful, the species give promise of develop- 

 ment through hybridization and plant-breeding, and 

 some of them afford useful stocks on which to graft 

 kinds that do not resist the phylloxera or root-louse. 

 The following discussion includes all the species native 



3954. Grape Sowers, enlarged. 1, shows the bud; 2, shows the 

 petals or "cap" falling; 3, shows the flower in full bloom, the 

 petals having been cast off. In all the flowers the minute calyx is 

 seen, and in 2 and 3 the disk is shown inside the base of the 

 stamens. 



to North America north of Mexico; it is adapted from 

 the writer's account in Gray's "Synoptical Flora," 

 vol. 1, 420-430. These American grapes are very diffi- 

 cult to distinguish in many cases; hence the subjoined 

 descriptions are full, to bring out the contrasting char- 

 acters. Some of the best recent systematic writing on 

 American Vitis is from French sources, since the Ameri- 

 can species have come into prominence in France as 

 phylloxera-resisting stocks for the wine grape. See, 

 for example, the works of Millardet, and Viala and 

 Ravaz; also "Ampelographie Universelle," by Viala 

 and Vermorel. Many of the species listed in the trade 

 under Vitis will be found in the genera Ampelopsis, 

 Parthenocissus, and Cissus. 



The grape-vines of eastern Asia, although apparently 

 not yielding fruit of value, are interesting as ornamental 

 vines, and some of them are likely to come into promi- 

 nence for their good foliage and brilliant autumn color- 

 ing. They are little known with us as yet. V. Coignetise 

 and V. amurensis are hardy in the northern states. 

 Those tender at the Arnold Arboretum and more or 

 less killed back in winter are V. Davidii, V. flexuosa, V. 

 Romanetii, V. pulchra, V. reticulata, V. Piasezkii, and 

 V. pentagona. 



Vitis species are of easy culture for ornament, and 

 probably all of them propagate by hardwood cuttings, 

 although layering may be easier with some species. 

 Even species that are tender in any locality often make 

 very attractive new growths each year if the roots are 

 not injured. Attention must be given to fungous 

 diseases. 



In southern California and other southern parts, a 

 number of evergreen species now attain more or less 

 prominence, particularly "the evergreen grape-vine" or 

 V. capensis. These plants are mostly species of Cissus 

 (which see, page 775), which is separated from Vitis by 

 the mostly four-merous flowers with separate expand- 

 ing petals and different disk, the plants often fleshy and 

 sometimes erect rather than climbing. The evergreen 

 set in cultivation more or less prominently in this 

 country comprises Cissus antardica (V. Baudiniana], 

 page 776; C. capensis (V. capensis); C. gongylodes (V. 

 pterophora), page 776; C. hypoglauca (V. hypoglauca) ; 

 C. oblonga (V. oblonga); C. quadrangularis (V. quad- 

 rangularis); C. rhombifolia (V. rhombifolia); Vitis 

 Romanetii (V. rutilans); Cissus striata (V. semper- 

 virens), page 776. The standard English authorities 

 combine Cissus and Vitis, but continental as well as 

 American authors incline to keep them distinct. Sev- 

 eral of the species properly referred to Cissus are 

 described in the present account (Nos. 1-5), not hav- 

 ing found their place regularly under Cissus in Vol. II. 



I. Species of Cissus grown under the name of Vitis, to be 



added to those described on pages 775 and 776, Vol. II. 



A. Plant fleshy, with winged sts. 



1. C. quadrangularis, Planch. (Vitis quadrangularis, 

 Linn.). An odd succulent with 4-winged sts. much con- 

 stricted at the nodes, climbing, mostly glabrous, often 

 nearly leafless, looking like a spineless cereus: Ivs. 

 varying from ovate and not lobed to cordate or reni- 

 form and deeply 3-lobed, the middle part sometimes 

 lobed, the sinuses open and rounded, margins denticu- 

 late: fls. in small short-peduncled compound lateral 

 cymes, the calyx 1 line long, the petals 4 and greenish ; 

 stamens 4, with short filaments: berries nearly globose, 

 red, 1-seeded, size of pea, acrid. Trop. Afr., Arabia, 

 India, Moluccas. Sts. said to be eaten by natives in 

 Ceylon. 



AA. Plant little or not at all fleshy: sts. sometimes angled 

 but not winged. 



2. C. capensis, Willd. (Vitis capensis, Thunb. Rhoi- 

 dssus capensis, Planch.). Fig. 3955. EVERGREEN 

 GRAPE-VINE of southern Calif., now much planted 

 there: strong climbing vine, with globular ground 

 tubers to 6 or 8 in. diam., terete striate sts. and young 

 parts reddish hairy: Ivs. long-stalked, simple, thickish, 



3955. Vitis capensis (preferably known as Cissus capensis), an 

 evergreen species prized in southern California. ( X 1 A) 



