164 VITACE^. 



less so on the middle of the opposite side ; the cartilaginous- 

 fleshy albumen thus appearing three-lobed on the transverse 

 section. Embryo very small, next the hilum : cotyledons 

 short and flat : radicle conical, inferior. 



Shrubs climbing by tendrils, the branchlets tumid at the 

 nodes. Leaves alternate, or the lowest opposite, petioled, 

 usually orbicular-cordate and palmately-lobed or angled, 

 sometimes palmately or pedately parted, rarely quinately or 

 bipinnately compound. Stipules membranaceous, deciduous. 

 Tendrils and peduncles opposite the leaves. Flowers small, 

 greenish, very numerous, often umbellate-fascicled in com- 

 pound and thyrsoid panicles. or cymes. The North Ameri- 

 can species are mostly dioecio-polygamous. 



Etymology. The classical Latin name of the Grape. 



Geographical Distribution, Division, &c. The true Grapes, which 

 bear edible fruit, consist chiefly or entirely of the Vitis vinifera of the 

 Old World, a native of the Caucasian region, but early carried westward by 

 man ; and of a few North American species, of little economical importance, 

 indigenous to the Atlantic region of the United States. These are pentan- 

 drous, or only accidentally tetrandrous species, with the induplicate tips of 

 the petals cohering in the bud, so that the corolla is thrown off from the base 

 without expanding ; and the disk appears in the form of five nearly or quite 

 distinct lobes or fleshy glands alternate with the stamens. Besides these, 

 there are numerous tropical and subtropical species, the greater number 

 Asiatic, with three in the Southern United States, which bear small and in- 

 edible berries and tetramerous or pentamerous flowers, the corolla usually 

 expanding before it falls off, and with a conspicuous annular or cup-shaped 

 disk either lobed or toothed, sometimes (as in V. bipinnata) coherent with 

 the ovary. These, when tetrandrous, form the Linneean genus Cissus; to 

 which pentandrous species have also been referred when they have divided 

 leaves, or an expanding corolla. But these characters are not presented in any 

 constant combination which serves to characterize a genus distinct from Vitis. 



PLATE 161. Vitis Labrusca, Linn.; — cultivated (Isabella Grape). 



1. A flower-bud, magnified ; one of the petals detached at the base. 



2. Diagram of the same, showing the gestivation and position of parts. 



3. Vertical section of the unopened flower, more magnified. 



4. A magnified flower with the corolla, 5, thrown off. 



6. Fruit, of the natural size. 7. Vertical section of a berry. 



8. A seed detached and enlarged. 



9. A transverse, and 10. a longitudinal, section of the same. 

 11. The embryo (from fig. 10) more magnified. 



