1948 



pinnatifid, grayish tomentulose beneath, the middle one 

 93 i long! the smallest ones often entire: fls smaller 

 scarcely 3 'in. long, in more slender and looser terminal 

 SSffi; .fmenf' shorter than limb; < -oat -lions 

 July, Aug. N. China, Mongolia. B.M. Jb4 (as v. i\e 



26<M. Vitex incisa (X%). 



gttndo). Less showy in bloom than the preceding spe- 

 cies, but a graceful shrub of loose and open habit, with 

 handsome foliage. 



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

 toothed: fls. in long-stalked, axillary, many-1ld. cymes. Cuba. 

 V. Lindeni, Hook. f. Lfts. 3-5, elliptic or elliptic-obovate, 

 glabrous: fls. pale violet, in few-fid., axillary, long-stalked 

 heads. Colombia. B.M. 6230. V. Negundo, Linn. Closely al- 

 lied to V. incisa, but Ifts. entire or crenately serrate, larger: 

 fls. purple, somewhat larger. Tropical and subtropical Asia. 

 V. trifdlia. Linn. Lfts. usually 3, obovate or obovate-oblong, 

 obtuse, entire: fls. blue, in terminal panicles. S. Asia, Poly- 

 nesia. Var. unifoliolata, Schauer. With a solitary short- 

 stalked leaflet. ALFRED REHDER. 



VITICULTUKE. See Grape and Vltis. 



VlTIS (classical Latin name). VINE. GRAPE. Vitdcew 

 or Ampelideae. A widespread genus of mostly tendril- 

 bearing climbing vines, most abundant in temperate 

 countries. In its stricter limitations, the genus in- 

 cludes less than 50 known species, but some authors 

 unite Cissus and Ampelopsis with it, when it includes 

 some 250 species. The latest monographer (Planchon, 

 DC. Monogr. Phaner. 5), refers thirty or more species 

 to Vitis in the main account and in the addendum, and 

 more than 200 to Cissus. North America is particularly 

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

 widespread distribution and the abundance of the 

 plants. From our native species have been developed 

 the outdoor Grapes of this country except those of 

 California and the extreme southwest (which are Vitis 

 vinifera). For an account of the evolution of these 



VITIS 



native cultural varieties, see Grape; also Bailey's 

 "Sketch of the Evolution of Our Native Fruits." 



Many of the species of Vitis are excellent ornamental 

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

 trees. 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 

 T. V. Munson, of Texas, who is a well-known authority 

 on both the botany and horticulture of the Grape. The 

 popular interest in these species is primarily pomologi- 

 cal; for, although the fruit may not be directly use- 

 ful, the species give promise of development 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 dis- 

 cussion includes all the species native 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 difficult to distinguish in 

 many cases; hence the subjoined descriptions are very 

 full in order to bring out the contrasting characters. 

 Some of the best recent systematic writing on Ameri- 

 can Vitis is from French sources, since the American 

 species have come into prominence in France as phyl- 

 loxera-resisting stocks for the Wine Grape. See, for 

 example, the works of Millardet, and Viala and Ravaz; 

 also "Ampelographie Universelle," by Viala and Ver- 

 morel, now publishing. 



As understood by Gray, Vitis is distinguished as fol- 

 lows: Plants climbing by the prehension and coiling 

 of naked-tipped tendrils. Flowers polygamo-dioecious 

 (i. e., some individuals perfect and fertile, others sterile 

 with at most only a rudimentary ovary), 5-merous; co- 

 rolla calyptrately caducous, the petals in anthesis cast 

 off from the base while cohering by their tips (Fig. 

 2695) : hypogynous disk of 5 nectariferous glands alter- 

 nate with stamens : style short and thick, or conical: 

 berry pulpy; seeds pyriform, with contracted beak-like 

 base. 



2695. Grape flowers, 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 minnte 

 calyx is seen, and in 2 and 3 the disk is shown inside 

 the base of the stamens. 



