78. YlTIS AESTIYALIS SUMMER GRAPE. 19 



ORDER VITACEAB: VINE FAMILY. 



Leaves alternate, palraately veined or compound, and with tendrils or flower clus- 

 ters opposite; stipules deciduous.^ Flowers regular, small, greenish, often polyga- 

 mous or dioecious; calyx minute, truncated, the limb obsolete or 5-toothed; petals 

 4-5, vallate in the bud, hypogynous or perigynous, early deciduous; stamens as 

 many as the petals and opposite them, inserted on a disk which surrounds the ovary, 

 with slender filaments and introrse anthers; pistil with short style or none. 2-lobed 

 stigma and 2-celled ovary which contains 2 erect anatropous ovules from the base of 

 each cell. Fruit a berry with usually 4 bony seeds, grooved on one side and contain- 

 ing a minute embryo with hard albumen. 



Vines with tumid nods and watery juice, climbing usually by tendrils, the foliage 

 and young shoots of tart acid flavor. 



GENUS VITIS, TOURN. 



Leaves simple, rounded or heart-shaped at base, palmately veined. Flowers poly- 

 gamo-dioecious, in compound thyrses and very fragrant; calyx very short with 

 usually an entire border or none; petals 5, in most species cohering at the top and 

 separate below, in others distinct and spreading; stamens 5, alternating with 5 hypo- 

 gynous nectiferous glands, ovary 2-celled, cells 2-ovuled, stigma sessile, capitate. 

 Fruit a pulpy berry with 1-4 pyriform grooved seeds with beak-like bases. 



Vines climbing by the aid of naked-tipped tendrils. (Vitis is the ancient Latin 

 name of the grape.) 



78. VITIS AESTIVALIS, MICHX. 

 SUMMER GRAPE. 



Ger., Weinstosk ; Fr., Vigne sauvage de VAmerique ; Sp., Vid silvestra. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. Leaves large, 4-7 in. long, broadly cordate, entire or 

 obtusely 3-5-lobed with short broad teeth, very woolly beneath, especially when 

 young, with reddish hairs; tendrils forked and intermittent (i. e. none opposite every 

 third leaf), one often coming from a fruit-cluster; bark loose and shreddy. Flowers 

 appear in May or June; petals cohering above but distinct below, falling away early. 

 Fruit (ripe in Sept. or October) small, scarcely - in. in diameter, blue-black with 

 bloom, in compact bunches and of pleasant flavor when ripe. 



One of the largest vines, 10 in. (0.25 m.) in diameter at base and of 

 great length, climbing to the tops of the neighboring trees fifty or more 

 feet in height. Its bark is very loose and shreddy, exfoliating in long 

 strips which hang across the limbs of the trees or cover the ground be- 

 neath. 



HABITAT. Eastern United States generally from Canada to Florida, 

 growing along rich bottom lands and the borders of streams. 



PHYSICAL PROPERTIES. Wood light, not strong, very porous and 

 shrinking badly in drying; of a light brown color and white sap-wood. 



USES. The Summer Grape produces fruit too small and astringent 

 to be of value in cultivation in its pure form, but by selection and hybri- 

 dization with other grapes some valuable vines have been produced. 



MEDICINAL PROPERTIES are not claimed of this species. 



ORDER SAFINDACE2E : SOAPBERRY FAMILY. 



Leaves simple or compound. Flowers polypetalous, often irregular and mostly 

 symmetrical ; sepals and petals each 4-5, imbricated in the bud, the petals inserted 



