‘THE TRUE GRAPE-VINES OF THE UNITED STATES. 417 
varieties retain herein the qualities of their native ancestors. The different forms of Riparia flower 
first of all; soon afterwards comes Rupestris, next Labrusca and its relatives, and later stivalis 
comes in bloom. One of the last flowering species is Cordifolia, and still later, Cinerea. Vinifera 
seems to flower soon after Labrusca, but it is not cultivated here, nor is Vulpina, which is probably 
the latest of all. V. candicans apparently blooms about the same time that Zabrusca does. 
Riparia begins to open its flowers about St. Louis three to five weeks earlier than the first 
blossoms of stivalis are seen in the same locality. In favorable situations and in early seasons 
they make their appearance in this vicinity as early as April 25th, at other seasons sometimes as late 
as May 15th, or even 20th, on the average about May 10th, and generally about the time when the 
Acacias (Black Locusts) bloom, both filling the atmosphere with the sweetest perfumes. Cordifolia, 
and, after this, Cinerea, on the contrary, bloom from the last days in May to (in late seasons) the 
middle of June, when that weed among trees, the fetid Ailantus (misnamed the Tree of Heaven), 
exhales its nauseous odors and the beautiful Catalpa expands its gorgeous bunches of flowers. V. 
palmata (Vahl), of which we do not yet know much, seems to be the latest flowering grape-vine 
with us, flowering even after Cinerea. Thus we are not likely to have any grape-vines in flower 
here before April 25th or after June 20th. 
One of the botanical characters of the grape-vine is found in the seeds. The bunches may be 
larger or smaller, looser or moré compact, branched (shouldered) or more simple, conditions which, to 
a great extent, depend on variety, soil, and exposure ; the berries may be larger or smaller, of differ- 
ent color and consistency, and contain fewer or more seeds (never more than four), but the seeds, 
though to some extent variable, especially on account of their number ® and mutual pressure, where 
more than one is present, exhibit some reliable differences. The big top of the seed is convex or 
rounded, or it is more or less deeply notched. The thin lower end of the seed, the beak, is short 
and abrupt, or it is more or less elongated. On the inner (ventral) side are two shallow, longitudinal 
irregular depressions. Between them is a ridge, slight where there are one or two seeds, or sharper 
where the seeds are in threes or fours ; along this ridge the rhaphe (the attached funiculus or cord) 
runs from the hilum, at the beak, over the top of the seed, and ends on its back in an elongated, oval, 
or circular well-marked spot, called by botanists chalaza. This rhaphe is on that ridge represented by 
a slender thread, which on the top and back of the seed is entirely indistinct, or scarcely perceptible, or 
it is more or less prominent, like a thread or a cord. In our American species these characters seem 
pretty reliable, but in the varieties of the Old World grape-vine (Vinifera), several ears of 
years removed from their native sources, the form of the seed has also undergone importan 
modifications, and can no longer be considered so safe a guide as in our species. a (6)] 
But different as these seeds are among themselves they have a character in common, 
which distinguishes them from all our American grape seeds ; their beak is narrower and usually 
longer, and their large chalaza (the area on the back of the seed) occupies the upper half and not the 
centre of the seed ; in the American species the beak is shorter and more abrupt ; the chalaza, usually 
smaller, and often not circular, but narrower, is placed in the centre of the back. Any one who 
wishes to satisfy himself of this need only compare a raisin seed with any of our grape seeds, if the 
following cuts are not plain enough. 
The size and weight of the seeds varies greatly in the different species, thus Labrusca and Can- 
dicans have the largest, Cinerea and Riparia the smallest seeds, but even in the wild state we find 
variation, e. g. in Astivalis, still more in Cordifolia, and most in Riparia. In Vinifera, the 
European grape, however, the variations are much greater, greater even sometimes than our figures 
show. Some have laid stress on the color of the seeds, which varies between brown and yellowish, 
but that seems to me to go too far for our purposes. 
5 A single seed is always thicker, plumper, more rounded ; two seeds are flattened on the inner, rounded on the outer 
side ; three or four seeds are more slender and angular ; these different variations may often be found in berries of the same 
bunch. 
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