214 SYSTEMATIC BOTANY. 



Order XXIV. VITACEJE. 



Woody plants, climbing by tendrils. Flowers small, often polyg- 

 amous, or dioecious. Calyx small, entire, or with 4 or 5 teeth, lined 

 by a disk. Petals 4 or 5, inserted on the margin of the disk, often 

 cohering by their tips, and caducous. Stamens 4 or 5, opposite 

 the petals, and inserted with them. Ovary '2-celled. Style short, 

 or none. Fruit a globose, usually pulpy berry, often i-celled, and 

 i or few seeded. 



( Calyx on a fleshy disk Vitis. 

 VITACE^E.-] 



( No fleshy disk/? mpelopsis. 



I. Vitis. Calyx nearly entire. Petals 4-5. Ovary surrounded 

 and partly inclosed in the elevated torus, 2-celled ; cells 2-ovuled. 

 Berry i-celled, 1-4 seeded. 



1. V. LABRUSCA (Wild Grape). Leaves broadly cordate, 3-lobed, 

 toothed, tomentose beneath ; flowers dioecious, small, green, incompact, ob- 

 long panicles ; fruit large, globose, black or reddish-purple, pleasant and 

 eatable. In low grounds, with very long stems, which often reach the tops 

 of the highest trees, climbing by means of its tendrils. June. 



2. V. CORDIFOLIA (Frost Grape). young branches mostly smooth ; 

 leaves cordate, often 3-lobed ; racemes loose, many-flowered ; berries small, 

 black, late, very acid. In low grounds and woods. 



2. Ampelopsis. Calyx 5-toothed. Petals thick. Disk none. 

 Leaves digitate, with 5 leaflets. Tendrils with disks at tips. 



A. QUINQUEFOLIA ( Woodbine}. Stem climbing, smooth ; leaflets ob- 

 long, serrate, acuminate, petiolate, smooth ; flowers greenish, in dichoto- 

 mous, many-flowered panicles ; berries dark blue, as large as a small pea, 

 with crimson peduncles and pedicels. A rapidly growing and spreading vine. 

 Along fences and borders of woods. July. 



Order XXV. SAPINDACE^E (Soapberry Family}. 



Trees, shrubs, or herbaceous climbers, with compound leaves, 

 and irregular and often polygamous or dioecious flowers. Petals 

 imbricated in the bud on a disk. Ovary 2-3-celled, with 1-3 

 ovules in each cell. Fruit a pod or samara. 



f Fruit bladdery pod Staphylea. 

 SAPINDACE^E.-! Fruit winged, leaves simple Acer. 



[ Fruit leathery pod sEsculus. 



I. Acer. Flowers polygamous. Calyx 5-cleft. Petals 5, or none. 

 Stamens 7-10. Styles 2. Samaras 2-winged, united at base. 



i. A. DASYCARPUM (Silver or White Maple). Leaves deeply 5-lobed, 

 white and smooth beneath ; sinuses obtuse ; lobes acute, entire toward the 



