THE MUSCADINES 09 



point (but somewhat contracted above the termination of tin- 

 two main Bide veins), the under surface finely reticulated 

 between the veins, tin- teeth and the apex angular, coarse 

 ami acute, the basal sinus shallow, broad and edentate ; 

 petiole slender and (like the young growth) fine-scurfy, about 

 tin- length of the leaf-blade: tendrils (or flower- dusters) 

 discontinuous, every third node being bare: fruit-bearing 

 clusters smaller than the sterile <m«-s, and ripening from three 

 to twenty grapes in a nearly globular bunch: berries falling 

 from the cluster when ripe, spherical or nearly so and large 

 (half inch to inch in diameter), with very thick and tough 

 skin and a tough, musky flesh, "lull purple in color without 

 bloom ( in the Benppernong variety silvery amber-gri 

 ripe in Bummer and early autumn: Beeda ',- to %-inch long, 

 shaped something like a coffee berry.— Grows <>n river banks, 

 swamps, and rich woodlands and thickets, S. Delaware to 

 N. Florida ami west to Kansas and Texas. Known to vine- 

 yardistfl chiefly as the parent of the Benppernong. H;is been 

 hybridized with V. Labrusca, V. rupestris, and V. vinifera. 



i v oniana, Bimpson. (Mustang Grape of Florida, Bird or 

 Everbearing Grape.) Very Blender grower, preferring to run 

 on the ground or over low bushes, more nearly evergreen 

 than the last, flowering more or less continuously: leaves 

 smaller, thinner, and more shining, more marly circular in 

 outline and less prominently pointed; the teeth broader in 

 proportion to the blade, and more open or spreading: elus- 

 larger and more tbyrse-like: berries a half smaller than 

 in the la^t. ami often more numerous, shining black, with 

 a more tender pulp, acid juice, no muskinesss, ami thinni r 



skin; seeds half smaller than in tin- last. — Dry woods and 



sands, Florida, at Jacksonville, Fake City, and southwards, 

 apparently the only grape on the reef keys; also in the 

 Bahamas. Difficult to distinguish from r. rotundifolia in 

 herbarium specimens, hut distinct in the Beld. Not in do- 

 • ical ion. 



II. Euvitis, the true grapes. Bark without distincl lentioels, 

 on the old wood separating in long thin strips and fibers; nodes 

 provided with diaphragms ; tendrils forked; flower-clusters 1 



