3486 



VITIS 



VITIS 



found about fifty years ago by Engelmann in the 

 Botanic Garden of Berlin under the name of Vitis 

 Solonis, without history. Engelmann guesses (Bush- 

 berg Cat. ed. 3, 18) the name to be a corruption of 

 "Long's." It is probable that the plant was sent to 

 European gardens as Vitis Longii very likely from 

 Prince's nursery and the name was misread on the 

 label. The original name, which was duly published by 

 Prince with description, may now be restored. 



Var. microsperma, Bailey (V. Solonis var. micrcr 

 sperma, Munson), is a very vigorous and small-seeded 

 form, which is very resistant to drought. Red River, 

 N. Texas. 



15. vulpina, Linn. (V. riparia, Michx. V. odoratis- 

 sima, Donn. V. odordta, Hort. V. illinoensis and F. 

 missouriensis, Prince? V. cordifolia var. riparia, 

 Gray). RIVERBANK or FROST GRAPE. Fig. 3958. A 

 vigorous tall-climbing plant, with a bright green cast to 

 the foliage, normally glabrous young shoots, large 

 stipules, and plane very thin diaphragms: Ivs. thin, 

 medium to large, cordate-ovate, with a broad but usu- 

 ally an evident sinus, mostly showing a tendency 

 (which is sometimes pronounced) to 3 lobes, generally 

 glabrous and bright green below, but the veins and their 

 angles often pubescent, the margins variously deeply 

 and irregularly toothed and sometimes cut, the teeth 

 and the long point prominently acute: fertile fls. bearing 

 reclining or curved stamens, and the sterile ones long 

 and erect or ascending stamens: clusters medium to 

 large, on short peduncles, branched (often very com- 

 pound), the fls. sweet-scented: berries small (less than 

 J^in. diam.), purple-black with a heavy blue bloom, 

 sour and usually austere, generally ripening late (even 

 after frost); seeds rather small and distinctly pyriform. 

 Nova Scotia and New Bruns. to Man., Kans., and 

 Colo, and south to W. Va., Mo. and Texas. B.M. 2429. 

 The commonest grape in the northern states west of 



New England, abundant along streams. Variable in 

 the flavor and maturity of the fr. Forms with petioles 

 and under surfaces of Ivs. pubescent sometimes occur. 

 It apparently hybridizes with V. Labrusca eastward, 

 the hybrid being known by the tomentose young 

 shoots and unfolding Ivs., and the darker foliage, which 



3958. Vitis vulpina. ( X 1 A) 



is marked with rusty tomentum along the veins of the 

 less jagged Ivs. 



Var. praecox, Bailey, is the JUNE GRAPE of Mo., the 

 little sweet frs. ripening in July. 



16. Treleasei, Munson. "Plant shrubby and much 

 branched, climbing little, the small and mostly short 

 (generally shorter than the Ivs.) tendrils deciduous the 

 first year unless finding support, internodes short, the 

 diaphragms twice thicker (about r&in.) than in V. 

 vulpina and shallow-biconcave: stipules less than one- 

 fourth as large as in V. vulpina: Ivs. large and green, 

 very broad-ovate or even reniform-ovate (often wider 

 than long), thin, glabrous and shining on both surfaces, 

 the basal sinus very broad and open and making no 

 distinct angle with the petiole, the margin unequally 

 notch-toothed (not jagged as in V. vulpina) and indis- 

 tinctly 3-lpbed, the apex much shorter than in V. vul- 

 pina: fertile fls. with very short, recurved stamens, 

 sterile with ascending stamens: cluster small (2-3 in. 

 long): berries J^in. or less thick, black with a thin 

 bloom, ripening 3 weeks later than V. vulpina when 

 grown in the same place, thin-skinned; pulp juicy and 

 sweet; seeds small. Brewster Co., S. W. Texas and New 

 Mex. to Bradshaw Mts., Ariz. Little known, and pos- 

 sibly a dry-country form of V. vulpina. In habit it 

 suggests V. arizonica var. glabra, from which it is dis- 

 tinguished, among other things, by its earlier flowering 

 and larger Ivs. with coarser teeth and less pointed apex. 



17. rftbra, Michx. (V. monosperma, Michx.). RED or 

 CAT GRAPE. Fig. 3959. A slender but strong-growing 

 vine, with small long-jointed angled red glabrous herb- 

 like shoots and red petioles: Ivs. small to medium, 

 ovate-acuminate, dark green and glossy, sometimes 

 indistinctly pubescent on the nerves below, the sinus 

 obtuse, the blade either nearly continuous in outline or 

 (commonly) prominently lobed or even parted, coarsely 

 notched: stamens in the sterile fls. long and erect: clus- 

 ters loose and long-peduncled, branched, the fls. open- 

 ing very late: berries small and late (}4r% in. diam.), 



