THE GENUS VITIS 



ROTUNDIFOLIA GRAPES 



227 



THE GENUS VITIS 



The genus Vitis belongs to the vine family 

 (Vitacese) in which most botanists also put 

 the woodbines (Ampelopsis), of which Virginia 

 creeper is the best-known plant. The genus 

 Cissus, to which belong many southern climb- 

 ers, is combined with Vitis by some botanists. 

 Vitis is separated from Ampelopsis and Cissus 

 by marked differences in several organs, of 

 which, horticulturally at least, those in the 

 fruit best serve to distinguish the group. 

 Species of Vitis, with possibly one or two ex- 

 ceptions, bear pulpy edible fruits; species of 

 Ampelopsis and Cissus bear fruits with pulp 

 so scant that the berries are inedible. Vitis is 

 further distinguished as follows: 



The plants are climbing or trailing, rarely 

 shrubby, with woody stems, and mostly with 

 coiling, naked-tipped tendrils. The leaves are 

 simple, palmately lobed, round-dentate, or 

 heart-shaped-dentate. The stipules are small, 

 falling early. The flowers are polygamous- 

 dioecious (some plants with perfect flowers, 

 others staminate with at most a rudimentary 

 ovary), five-parted. The petals are separated 

 only at the base and fall off without expand- 

 ing. The disk is hypogynous with five nec- 

 tariferous glands which are alternate with the 

 stamens. The berry is globose or ovoid, few- 

 seeded, and pulpy. The seeds are pyriform, 

 and beak-like at the base. 



The description blank for the grape on the 

 following page sets forth most of the characters 

 students and fruit-growers will use in describ- 

 ing this fruit. 



SPECIES OF AMERICAN GRAPES 



The number of species of grapes in the 

 world depends on the arbitrary limits set for 

 a species of this fruit, and knowledge of the 

 genus is yet too meager to set these limits with 

 certainty. Indeed, the men who have made 

 grape species have seldom been able to out- 

 line the habitats of their groups with much 

 certainty. In habitat, it should be said, grapes 

 are confined almost wholly to temperate and 

 subtropical regions. However, the grape- 

 grower is not much concerned with species of 

 grapes other than those that have horticultural 

 value. Of these, in America, there are now ten 

 more or less cultivated either for fruit or for 

 stocks. The following descriptions of these 

 ten species are adapted from the author's The 

 Grapes of New York, published in 1908 by the 

 State of New York (Chapter IV, pages 107- 

 156). 



CONSPECTUS OF CULTIVATED SPECIES OF VITIS 



A. Skin of mature berry separating freely from the pulp. 

 B. Nodes without diaphragms ; tendrils simple. 



1. V. rotundifolia. 



2. V. Munsoniana. 

 BB. Nodes with diaphragms ; tendrils forked. 



C. Leaves and shoots glabrous at maturity and with- 

 out bloom ; tendrils intermittent. 

 D. Leaves thin, light, bright green, generally glabrous 

 below at maturity except perhaps in the axils of 

 the veins with a long or at least a prominent 



point and usually long and sharp teeth or the 

 edge even-jagged. 

 E. Leaves broader than long ; petiolar sinus usually 



wide and shallow 3. V. rupestris. 



EE. Leaves ovate in outline ; petiolar sinus usually 



medium to narrow 4. V. vulpina. 



DD. Leaves thick, dull colored or grayish-green, often 

 holding some close, dull pubescence below at 

 maturity, shoots and leaves nearly always more 

 or less pubescent when young ; the teeth mostly 

 fi >, nr t ( 5. V. cordifolia. 



orl \ 6. V. Berlandieri. 



CO. Leaves rusty or white tomentose or glaucous blue 



below, thick or at least firm. 

 D. Leaves flocculent or cobwebby or glaucous below 



when fully grown } ' f? a '- 



( 8. V. bicolor. 



DD. Leaves densely tomentose or felt-like beneath 

 throughout the season ; covering white or rusty 

 white. 



E. Tendrils intermittent 9. V. candicans. 



EE. Tendrils mostly continuous. 10. V. Labrusca. 



AA. Skin and pulp of mature berry cohering. (Old 



World.) 11. V. vinifera. 



1. Vitis rotundifolia, Michx. Muscadine Grape. Bull 

 Grape. Bullet Grape. Bushy Grape. Bullace Grape. 

 Scuppernong. Southern Fox Grape. Vine very vigorous, 

 sometimes shrubby and only 3 or 4 feet high, often 

 sending down aerial roots ; wood hard, bark smooth, not 

 scaling, with prominent warty lenticels ; shoots short- 

 jointed, angled, with fine scurfy pubescence ; diaphragms 

 absent ; tendrils intermittent, simple. Leaves small, 

 broadly cordate or roundish ; petiolar sinus wide, shal- 

 low ; margin with obtuse, wide teeth ; not lobed ; dense 

 in texture, light green color, glabrous above, sometimes 

 pubescent along veins below. Cluster small, loose ; 

 peduncle short ; pedicels short, thick. Berries large, 

 globular, black or greenish-yellow ; skin thick, tough 

 and with a musky odor ; pulp tough ; ripening unevenly 

 and dropping as soon as ripe. Seeds flattened, shallowly 

 and broadly notched ; beak very short ; chalaza narrow, 

 slightly depressed with radiating ridges and furrows ; 

 raphe a narrow groove. 



The habitat of this species is southern Dela- 

 ware, west through Tennessee, southern Illinois, 

 southeastern Missouri, Arkansas (except the 

 northwestern portions), to Grayson County, 

 Texas, as a northern and western boundary, to 

 the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf on the east and 

 south. It becomes rare as one approaches the 

 western limit, but is common in many sections 

 of the great region outlined above, being most 

 abundant on sandy, well-drained bottom lands, 

 along river banks and in swampy, thick wood- 

 lands and thickets. The climate most suitable 

 for Rotundifolia is that in which cotton grows, 

 and it thrives best in the lower portions of the 

 cotton-belt of the United States. 



The fruit of Rotundifolia is very character- 

 istic. The skin is thick, has a leathery ap- 

 pearance, adheres strongly to the underlying 

 flesh, and is marked with lenticel-like russet 

 dots. The flesh is more or less tough, but the 

 toughness is not localized around the seed as 

 in Labrusca. The fruits in most of the varie- 

 ties of the species are characterized by a strong, 

 musky aroma and are lacking in sugar and 

 acid. At present, the most promising outlook 

 for Rotundifolia varieties is for use as grape- 

 juice and culinary grapes. Rotundifolia does 

 not produce fruit suitable for shipping as des- 

 sert grapes, chiefly because the berries ripen 

 unevenly, and when ripe drop from the cluster. 

 The juice which exudes from the point where 

 the stem is broken off causes the berries to 

 become smeared and gives them an unattrac- 

 tive appearance. Owing, however, to the 

 tough skin, the berries do not crack so badly 



