136 



ARBORETUM ET FRUTICETUM BRITANNICUM. 



abortion ; embryo erect ; albumen hard. Climbing shrubs, with tumid 

 separable joints. 



Leaves simple or compound, opposite or alternate, stipulate, deciduous ; 

 the lower ones opposite, the upper alternate. Flowers axillary, racemose, 

 sometimes by abortion changing to tendrils, which are generally opposite to 

 the leaves ; small, green. Shrubs, trailing and climbing, deciduous, and 

 including the grape vine, which may be considered as the type of the 

 order. The genera which contain hardy species are three, which are thus 

 contradistinguished : 



FI'TIS. Style wanting. Petals o. 



AMPELO'PSIS. Style 1. Petals 5. 



CYssus. Style 1. Petals 4. 



GENUS I. 



JTTIS L. THE GRAPE VINE. Lin. Syst. Pentandria Monogynia. 



Identification. Lin. Gen., 284. ; Dec. Prod., 1. p. 633. ; Don's Mill., 1. F . w . 

 Synonymes. Giud, Celtic ; Vid, Span. ; Vigne, Fr. ; Vite, Hal. ; Wein, Ger. 



Gen. Char. Flowers hermaphrodite, dioecious or tricecious. Calyx commonly 

 5-toothed. Petals 5, cohering at the top, separating at the base, and de- 

 ciduous. Stamens 5. (Dec. Prod.) Climbing tendriled shrubs, deciduous ; 

 natives of Asia and North America. 



Leaves simple, alternate, stipulate, lobed or serrated. Flowers in thyr- 

 soid racemes, small, and of a greenish yellow There are several species in 

 British gardens, the principal of which is the grape vine. 



-A 1. V. VINI'FERA L. The wine-bearing Vine. 



Identification. Lin. Spec., 293 ; Dec. Prod., 1. p. 633. ; Don's Mill., 1. p. 695. 

 Synonymes. Vigne, Fr. ; gemeiner Weinstock, Ger. ; Vite da Vino, Ital. 

 Engravings. Duh. Arb. Fr., 2. t. 16. ; Jacq. Ic., 1. p 53. ; and our fig. 181. 



Spec. Charge. Leaves 

 lobed, toothed, si- 

 nuated, or serrated, 

 naked or downv. 

 (Dec. Prod.) A de- 

 ciduous tendriled 

 climber. Syria. Stem 

 20ft. to 50 ft. Cul- 

 tivated in 1648, or 

 probably from the 

 time of the Romans. 

 Flowers greenish 

 yellow, scented ; 

 June and July. Fruit 

 green, red, or black ; 

 ripe in October. 

 Decaying leaves yel- m - Fitis vinifera - 



low or red. Naked young wood yellowish brown. 



Varieties. The grape vine has been in cultivation from the remotest period of 

 history, in the warmest parts of the temperate zones of the Old World. 

 The varieties have been described at length by Du Hamel in France, Don 

 Roxas de dementi in Spain, and Sickler in Germany. The varieties of the 

 vine as a fruit shrub, and all that relates to their propagation and culture, 

 will be found treated of in our Encyclopaedia of Gardening ; and we shall 



