244 SYSTEMATIC BOTANY. 



forming the tendril, the other the shoot. In Ampelopsis Dutailly thinks 

 the tendril is an axillary bud which remains attached to the stem, elon- 

 gates with it, and ultimately separates from it some distance above the 

 axil in which it originates. In some cultivated Vines the seeds are con- 

 stantly suppressed, while the fruit is perfected, as in the varieties yielding 

 the Sultana raisins and the Zante grape or " Currant." Pterisanthes, a 

 Javan plant, has a very extraordinary structure : its numerous barren and 

 fertile dowers are developed on a very large foliaceous peduncle having 

 the form of a number of divergent plates set edgewise at the end of a long- 

 slender stalk ; the fertile flowers and berries are sessile on both surfaces 

 of the laminae, the edges being fringed with stalked barren flowers. The 

 separation of the petals at their bases, remaining coherent above so as to 

 form little 5-rayed stars, is worthy of notice in this Order. The species 

 of Ampelopsis, known as u Virginia Creepers," exhibit some interesting 

 phenomena, viz. the assumption of a crimson colour by the foliage in 

 autumn, and the adaptation of their tendrils to form organs of attachment 

 to walls : the points of the tendrils are negatively heliotrophic, and in- 

 sinuate themselves into little holes and cracks, especially in brickwork, 

 and then expand inside the cavities so as to fix themselves as the stone 

 masons fix their u lewis," or key, into large blocks of stone. 



Distribution. The genus Vitis, including Ampelopsis and Cissus, con- 

 tains a large number of species, natives for the most part of tropical and 

 subtropical regions. The remaining genera have only a very few repre- 

 sentatives. The Vine (Vitis vinifera) is supposed to* be a native of the 

 shores of the Caspian ; but it has run wild in South Europe, and is culti- 

 vated all over the world where the temperature is not too low or too 

 high : in the last case it runs away to leaf and does not produce fruit. 

 The stems and roots of some of the Cissi in the East Indies are infested 

 by the parasitical Ilafflesiacea3 and Balanophoracete. In a fossil state 

 they have been found in Miocene as well as in more recent deposits. 



Qualities and Uses. The properties of the Vine (Vitis vmifera}, with 

 its innumerable varieties, are universally known ; the Fox-grapes ( Vitis 

 vulpina and Labrusca) of North America have similar properties when 

 cultivated, but are inferior. The berries of the Cissi are acrid ; some yield 

 a colouring-matter. The sap of the stems and leaves generally of the Order 

 is sour, containing tartaric acid. 



Series 2. CALYCIFLOB^;. 



Flowers usually with a calyx and corolla ; the petals distinct, 

 springing from the calyx or from a perigynous disk ; the stamens 

 perigynous or epigynous. 



Exceptions, &c. The character of this Subclass, founded on the insertion 

 of the petals and stamens upon the calyx, is very artificial, and is liable to 

 exception in certain genera of Orders referable here. On the other hand, it 

 is met with exceptionally in Thalamifloral Orders ; and many cases occur 

 where the conditions are difficult to ascertain. Moreover it causes the se- 

 paration of very natural groups of Orders, such as the removal of Anacar- 

 diacese, which has both hypogynous and perigynous genera, from the Sub- 



