14 Dr. Engelm.ann. 



BU8HBERG CATALOGUE. 



Classijication. 



This is one of the smaller species and is 

 peculiar to the hilly, cretaceous region of 

 western Texas, not extending to the lower 

 country nor to the granitic mountains ; com- 

 mon about San Antonio, New Braunfels, 

 Austin, etc. ; also occasionally cultivated 

 about San Antonio, when the bunches, as 

 well as the berries, become larger. This 

 plant has given rise to a great deal of specu- 

 lation and controversy'. About fifty years 

 ago, the Swiss botanist, Berlandier, collected 

 it in AVest Texas,* but it was not till twenty- 

 five or thirty 3'ears later that Prof. Buckley 

 named and published it. Unfortunately his 

 description was so insufficient that no botan- 

 ist could recognize the plant ; only the Texans 

 of those regions, who well knew " the little 

 mountain grape," understood what he meant. 

 Buckley's mention of a middle sized green, 

 very palatable berry has misled French bo- 

 tanists to look for this plant among the num- 

 eroiis forms of Ldbrusca, and Prof. Planchon 

 therefore changed the name to Vitis Ber- 

 landieri.f In justification of Buckley's de- 

 scription it is now said that there exists a 

 form of this species, especially about Freder- 

 icksburg and on the borders of the Llano 

 Estacado, with somewhat larger, green ber- 

 ries, which 1 understand Mr. J. Meusebach 

 is trying to find out, and to introduce into 

 cultivation. The species will readily grow 

 from cuttings. 



6. Vitis Arizonica, Engelmann, is close- 

 ly related to the last, and has similar seeds, 

 but the flat raphe, though rarely prominent, 

 is broad and sometimes inconspicuous ; 

 branchlets angular; leaves cordate, with a 

 rather open, rounded sinus, not lobed, or "with 

 two short latent lobes ; floccose, cottony when 

 3'oung ; glabrous, thick, very rigid, and (espe- 

 ciallj^ on the upper surface) rough, when 

 older ; berries small or middle sized, reported 

 to be of luscious taste. 



7. Vitis ^stivalis, Michaux. Climbing 

 over bushes and small trees by the aid of 

 forked, intermittent tendrils; branchlets 

 rounded, bark of the mature ones mostly red, 

 and scaling off in large flakes ; leaves large 



* On his specimens I found the first Phylloxera galls, 

 which, thus accidentally preserved, prove the exist- 

 ence of tlie insect in America (doubted, however, by no 

 one now) long before it became known to science here 

 or in the Old World, and also prove its existence as far 

 south as Texas. Engchnann. 



+ Planchon retained the name Vitis Berlandieri for 

 the vine discovered by Berlandier, and now cultivated 

 in France under the name "Sweet Mountain" grape. 

 Buckley describes his Vitis Monticola as fruit with 

 white berries of medium size and delicious taste, while 

 the fruit of Berlandieri has small berries, black and of 

 acrid taste, he therefore deems it safest to give tlie 

 plant a precise name which can be well defined. Prac- 

 tically, says Planchon, the Vitis Berlandieri may ac- 

 quire a real importance as it imparts to the grapes 

 which may be inserted tliereon a remarkable vigor and 

 fertility. ( See also " ]\Iunson's classification and viti- 

 cultural observations," pages 20 29). 



(4-5 or 6 inches wide), of firm texture, 

 entire, or often more or less deeply and ob- 

 tusely 3-5 lobed, with rounded sinus and with 

 short and broad teeth ; when young always 

 very woolly or cottony, mostly bright red or 

 rusty ; at last smoothish but dull, pale or 

 glaucous beneath, and never shining ; stipules 

 very short and rounded, mostly rusty- downy ; 

 berries middle-sized, black, 5-7 lines, (in 

 southwestern forms even 8-9 lines) in diame- 

 ter, coated with a bloom, when well-grown in 

 compact, often cylindrical bunches : seeds 

 rather large, mostly two or three in each 

 berry, rounded on top, showing a very promi- 

 nent, cord-like raphe, and more gradually 

 attenuated into the beak than is common in 

 our species. 



This is the well-known summer grape, com- 

 mon throughout the Middle and Southern 

 States, usuall}^ found on uplands and in dry, 

 open woods or thickets, maturing its fruits in 

 September. It is one of the most variable of 

 our grape-vines, and hence has seduced many 

 into the establishment of numerous nominal 

 species, while others, and among them mj'- 

 self, have assumed too wide limits for the 

 species, and have classed under it forms which 

 now, since we know them better, have to be 

 kept separate. Among the latter I mention 

 V. Monticola and V. Cineroea, which are de- 

 scribed in their proper places. Among the 

 former I must still retain with T^ yEstivalis 

 the form that had been distinguished by 

 Buckley as V. Lincecnmi. This latter, often 

 more bushy than climbing, has larger berries, 

 leaves often deeply 3-5 lobed, and coated 

 with a thick rusty down, or tomentum, which 

 is often quite persistent. Forms with very 

 large, woolly leaves have often been taken 

 for Labrusca, and this species, abounding in 

 the sandy post-oak (Quercus stellata) woods 

 of eastern Texas, and there known under the 

 name of Post-oak grape or Sand grape, but 

 extending also to Arkansas and Missouri, has 

 thus been quoted for the Western and South- 

 western States, to which the true Labrusca is 

 an entire stranger. 



This species is one of the most important 

 ones for us, and in the West at least, has al- 

 ready taken the place once accorded to the 

 Labrusca forms in our cultures, not only for 

 their greater, aye absolute, resistance to the 

 Phylloxera, but also for their intrinsic value 

 as wine (and even table) grapes, notwith- 

 standing the superior size of the Lal)rusca 

 berries. Unfortunately the typical forms can- 

 not be propagated by cuttings, and there are 

 a number of varieties which, originating from 

 a southern home, are not quite hardy here, 

 but, on the other hand, have the advantage of 

 being readily propagated by slips, in some 



