260 VITACEAE. 



2. CiSSUS L. Sp. PI. 117. 1753. 



Mostly climbing vines witli fleshy foliage. Leaves 3-foliolate or simple, 

 when compound the leaflets commonly separating in drying. Flowers mostly 

 perfect. Petals usually 4, spreading. Disk cup-shaped, adnate to the base 

 of the ovary, mostly 4-lobed. Disk cup-like, 4-lobed. Stamens 4. [Greek, 

 ivy.] A large genus, mostly tropical. Type species: Cissus vitiginea L. 



Leaves simple. 1. C. sicyoides. 



Leaves trifollolate. 



Fruit tubercled ; leaflets 3-6 cm. long. 2. C. tubereulata. 



Fruit smooth ; leaflets 1-3 cm. long. 



Leaflets ovate to obovate, deeply and sharply serrate, very 



fleshy. 3. C. trifoUata. 



Leaflets oblong to oblong-lanceolate, sparingly toothed, 



slightly fleshy. 4. C. intermedia. 



1. Cissus sicyoides L. Syst. ed. 10, 897. 1759 



A vine, climbing to a height of 6 m. or more, the foliage pubescent or 

 nearly glabrous. Leaves simple, petioled, ovate or ovate-oblong, 2-8 cm. long, 

 acute or acuminate at the apex, truncate lOr cordate at the base, serrate, the 

 teeth acute or bristle- tipped, the petioles 1-4 cm. long; tendrils slender, often 

 as long as the leaves; cymes peduncled; berries subglobose, black, 8-10 mm. 

 in diameter; seeds 4-5 mm. long. 



Rocky coppices and scrub-lands, Andros, New Providence and Eleuthera : — Ber- 

 muda ; Florida ; the West Indies and continental tropical America. Comjion Cissus. 



2. Cissus tubercuiata Jacq. Hort. Schoen. 1 : 14. pi. SS. 1797. 



A somewhat woody, rather fleshy vine, up to 6 m. long or longer, glabrous 

 or nearly so, the stems usually tuberculate. Leaves long-petioled, 3-foliolate; 

 leaflets ovate to elliptic or oblong-lanceolate, 3-6 cm. long, obtuse or acute at 

 the apex, narrowed or rounded at the base, low-serrate or nearly entire, the 

 lateral ones oblique; cymes compound, slightly and sparingly pubescent ; pedicels 

 10 mm. long or less; petals red or pink, reflexed, ovate, acute; berry obovoid, 

 tubereled or at length smooth, black, 6-8 mm. in diameter. 



Rocky open places and coppices, Great Bahama, Andros, New Providence and 

 Eleuthera : — ^Cuba. Reported by Mrs. Northrop and by Coker as C. mioroearpa Vahl. 

 Waett Cissus. Catesby, 2 : pi. i/S. 



3. Cissus trifoliata L. Syst. ed. 10, 897. 1759. 



Sicyos trifoliata L. Sp. PI. 1013. 1753. 

 Cissus acida L. Sp. PI. ed. 2, 170. 1762. 



A very fleshy vine up to 5 m. long, glabrous throughout. Leaves 3-foli- 

 olate; leaflets ovate to obovate or suborbieular, 1-3 cm. long, sharply toothed 

 above the middle, narrowed or cuneate at the base; flowers in compound cymes; 

 berries globose to ovoid, -dark purple, apiculate, 5-7 mm. in diameter, the fruit- 

 ing pedicels recurved; seeds obovoid. 



Rocky plains and scrub-lands. Long Island, Acklin's, East Caicos and Little 

 Inagua : — Florida ; Jamaica ; Cuba to Virgin Gorda and St. Croix ; recorded south to 

 Martinique and from northern South America. Thick-leaybd Cissus. 



4. Cissus intermedia A. Bich. Ess. M. Cub. 1: 311. 1845. 



A slender, slightly fleshy vine, sometimes 2 m. long or longer, the branches 

 and leaves glabrous, the stems and branches sometimes warty or tuberculate. 

 Leaves slender-petioled, trifollolate; leaflets oblong to oblong-lanceolate, 

 1.5-3 cm. long, mostly acute, sparingly serrate, the terminal one equilateral. 



