Terminology of the Vine. 349 



attain, depend partly upon the vigor of the plant, but is frequently charac- 

 teristic of the variety. The development of bunches is chiefly confined 

 to the shoots springing from well-developed buds that were formed the 

 preceding year ; though they sometimes appear upon shoots that spring 

 from old wood, in which case they are believed to be produced from buds 

 that have lain dormant. The bunch is made up of h:rries that are sup- 

 ported upon short branchlets called pedicels : they are the fruit, and gene- 

 rally contain the seed. But many grapes are destitute of these organs of 

 reproduction, as is illustrated in the so-called currants of commerce, which 

 are really raisins without seed. 



The arrangement of tendrils and bunches which Dr. Mohr describes as 

 normal in the European vine does not hold with most American species. 

 In the former, he says that only two are to be found in consecutive order, 

 opposite to as many leaves ; after which occurs a joint without either bunch 

 or tendril : whereas in our natives we often find four bunches consecutively ; 

 and I have counted on the shoots of young vines as many as twenty-three 

 tendrils opposite to the same number of leaves, without a single interrup- 

 tion. It has been suggested that the number of tendrils on a young seed- 

 ling-vine may possibly be an index of the future fruitfulness of the variety 

 in its adult state : this needs verification. 



Nodes. — Intcrjwdes. — All who have given the least attention to the 

 structure of the vine must have observed in the shoots and canes that these 

 parts were marked by subdivisions. At each leaf there is an enlargement, 

 upon which rests the bud : this is called the joint, though it is not really 

 a joint in the true sense of that word ; it is designated in botanical lan- 

 guage the node. The portion of the vine situated between two contiguous 

 nodes is called the intenwde, or 7/ierithalle. We have no English word for 

 either of these terms, and prefer to use the former. Buds alwa3-s grow at 

 the nodes, — never elsewhere ; and roots are most freely emitted from this 

 part, though they may start from any point of the internode. 



Canes. — It has already been stated that the word " shoot " was applicable 

 only during the season of growth, until the fall of the leaf Shoots, there- 

 fore, can never be more than about six months old, because, at the expira- 

 tion of this term, they become canes, and are characterized by their firm, 

 compact, woody nature, and are covered with a single layer of bark. In 



