78 RHAMNACE^E. (BUCKTHORN FAMILY.) 



* * Leaves smooth or nearly so and green both sides, commonly pubescent on the veins 

 beneath, either incisely lobed or undivided. 



3. V. cordi folia, Michx. (WINTER or FROST GRAPE.) Leaves thin, 

 not shining, heart-shaped, acuminate, sharply and coarsely toothed, often ob- 

 scurely 3-lobed ; panicles compound, large and loose; berries small (4' broad), blue 

 or black with a bloom, very acerb, ripening after frosts. Var. RIPARIA : with 

 the leaves broader and somewhat incisely toothed and cut-lobcd. (V. riparia, 

 Michx.) Thickets and river-banks; common. May, June. Flowers very 

 sweet-scented. 



4. V. vulpiiia, L. (MUSCADINE or SOUTHERN FOX-GRAPE.) Leaves 

 shining both sides, small, rounded with a heart-shaped base, very coarsely toothed 

 with broad and bluntish teeth, seldom lobed; panicles small, densely flowered , 

 berries large ('-f in diameter), musky, purplish without a bloom, ripe early in 

 autumn. River-banks, Maryland to Kentucky and southward. May. 

 Bark of stem close, not separating, as in the other species. Branchlets mi- 

 nutely warty. Fruit with a thick and tough skin. This yields the Catawba 

 and the Scuppernong Grape, <fec. 



$ 2. ClSSUS, L. Petals 4 or 5, usually expanding before or when they fall: disk 

 thick and broad, usually 4-5-lobed, often somewhat perigynous: flowers commonly 

 perfect. 



5. V. illdivisa, Willd. Nearly glabrous ; tendrils few and small ; leaves 

 heart-shaped or truncate at the base, coarsely and sharply toothed, acuminate, 

 not lobed ; panicle small and loose ; petals and stamens 5 ; style slender ; ber- 

 ries small (of the size of a pea), 1-3-seeded. River-banks, W. Virginia, 

 banks of the Ohio, and southward. June. 



6. V. bipilinata, Torr. & Gray. Nearly glabrous, bushy and rather 

 upright ; leaves twice pinnate or ternate, the leaflets cut-toothed ; tendrils none ; 

 panicle small, cymose ; petals and stamens 5 ; calyx 5-toothed ; disk very thick, 

 adherent to the ovary ; berries black, obovate when young. ( Ampelopsis bipin- 

 nata, Michx.) Rich soils, Virginia, Kentucky, and southward. 



2. AUIPEL.OPSIS, Michx. VIRGINIAN CREEPER. 



Calyx slightly 5-toothed. Petals concave, thick, expanding before they fall. 

 Disk none. Leaves digitale, with 5 oblong-lanceolate leaflets. Flower-clusters 

 cymose. Tendrils fixing themselves by dilated sucker-like disks at their tips. 

 (Name from cfywreXof, a vine, and o^ts, appearance.) 



1. A. quiilQliefolia, Michx. A common woody vine, growing in 

 low or rich grounds, climbing extensively, blossoming in July, ripening its small 

 blackish berries in October. Also called American Ivy. Leaves turning bright 

 crimson in autumn. 



ORDER 34. RHAMNACE^E. (BUCKTHORN FAMILY.) 



Shrubs or small trees, with simple leaves, small and regular flowers (some- 

 times apetalous}, with the 4 or 5 perigynous stamens as many as the valvate 

 tepals and alternate with them, and accordingly opposite the petals ! Drupe 



