160 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



found on the borders of streams. We have it in bearing on owv grounds. 

 It is of most vigorous growth, and will ascend thirty to forty feet or more, 

 and spread its branches in proportion. 



VIII. VITIS M0STANGKNSIS MUSTANG GRAPE. 



Berry large, black or dark purple, thin skin, pulp red or white, very 

 acrid red juice, four seeds, edible, not unpleasant when fully ripe; Cluster 

 compound; Leaf dark green, rather smooth and glossy above, with a 

 dense woolly pubescence beneath; branches, petioles, peduncles and pedi- 

 cels almost covered with white down. It makes excellent deep colored 

 wine, resembling Claret; grows abundantly in rich soils in Texas, and 

 especially along the banks of rivers; of gigantic growth, being the largest 

 growing Vine of Texas; flowers are both dioecious and polygamous, hence 

 male infertile vines are often seen. 



IX. VITIS RUPESTRIS ROCK GRAPE. 



Leaf small, reniform, cordate, incisely toothed; Berry small, black, 

 rather acid, thin skin, tolerably good; growth bush-like, erect, only four 

 feet high, seldom trails; Cluster compound, erect; grows in the rocky beds 

 of streams that are diy in summer; found only in the hilly country north 

 of Austin, and in New Mexico, and matures its fruit here at the end of 

 September. 



X. VITIS MONTICOLA MOUNTAIN WHITE GRAPE. 



Leaf entire, cordate, crenate, upper surface nearly smooth, under side 

 and petiole downy; young branches slender, tomentose, trailing, or 

 climbing on bushes to the height of four to six feet; Berry large, white or 

 amber, thin skin, pulp sweet, tender and juicy, from one-half to three- 

 quarters of an inch in diameter; Cluster very compound. It grows on the 

 hills and mountains northwest of Austin, Texas; ripens its fruit there in 

 August, and here in September. 



XI. VITIS LINSECOMII POST OAK GRAPE PINE WOOD GRAPE. 



Leaf very large, smooth above, rusty pubescent beneath; Berry large, 

 deep purple, thin skin, tender, juicy, slightly acid, pleasant; Cluster com- 

 pound; the vine trailing, or climbing four to eight feet; native of Texas, 

 exceedingly productive, ripens its fruit there the beginning of July, and 

 here in August. 



XII. VITIS laNIFERA PERSIAN OR ORIENTAL VINE. 



This is the only edible species which Nature bestowed upon the Eastern 

 Hemisphere, unless the Yeddo Grape should prove to be a distinct species, 

 and not a mere variety. This classic species, so long symbolized as "The 

 Vine," like its American congeners, covers in its native regions a large 

 portion of the Northern Temperate Zone, comprising nearly the same 

 degrees of latitude, extending from 26 deg. nortli through Persia, Cabul, 

 and throughout the entire Caucasian chain of mountains, to their northern 

 limit on the Black Sea, and beyond that Sea into the Crimea up to 46 deg. 

 north. It is also found in Syria and Palestine, Lat. 31 to 37 north. 

 It is somewhat surprising that at this day we should witness a statement 

 by a writer in the Patent OiBce Report for 1861, that " The History of the 

 Grape Vine shows that it is a plant of a hot Zone," when, in point of fact, 



