thinly with whitish cobwebby hairs drawn along the surface which become flocculent in maturity 

 and shed late in the season, leaving the upper face dark green, slightly wrinkled, similar to but less 

 than in V. labrusca. Leaves on ground shoots of old roots always beautifully palmately 5 to 7, 

 rarely 9, lobed; in seedlings 3 to 5 lobed till the third year, which is strikingly different from all 

 other species, in which the leaves are almost entire on young plants. 



Cluster: Fertile, — small, 2' to 3' long and nearly equally forked; peduncle short and weak; 

 rachis hairy; pedicels long; staminate, — much larger, compound. 



Flowers: Fertile, — petals before opening, — the fiower-bud — crimson; stamens very short, 

 reflexed and curved laterally ; pistil very large; ovary globose ; style thick and very short, causing 

 the large white hemispherical stigma to appear nearly sessile; sterile, — flower-bud same as in 

 fertile but smaller, stamens medium strong, with large anther and abundant pollen. 



Berries : 5 to 12 in cluster, large to very large, globular, black, very rarely red and still more 

 rarely white; bloom none; skin thick, tough, possessed of a fiery pungency, which renders fruit 

 inedible, unless carefully removed; pulp tough, of a pleasant or rather insipid sweetish taste; 

 betweefl skin and pulp is a jelly-like juice sometimes red, sometimes transparent. Fruit per- 

 sistent till very late, rarely, if ever, attacked by black rot. Berry separates from the pedicdl with 

 difficulty, the pedicel always drawing quite a core, white or crimson, with it from, the berry. 



Seeds: 2 to 4 of medium size, 1/5' to 1/4' long, by 1/6' to 1/5' broad, ovoid when only one 

 in the berry, roimded, not lobed, with a small well defined beak; color of unparched coffee with 

 a brownish tinge; raphe very small, obscure or invisible, nearly imbedded in the ventral ridge; 

 chalaza not very prominent, flat on top, ovate or elliptical, acute at insertion of raphe, center of 

 chalaza rather lower than middle of seed, surrounded by a distinct groove which extends only 

 to top of seed, depressions nearly straight, wide apart, much lighter in color than body of seed. 



Plantlet: Caulicle and plumule crimson; seed-leaves small, petiole 1/4'; blade generally 

 cupping upward around margin, just the reverse to full grown leaves on old vine; color dark 

 green. 



Viticultural Observations and Remarks 



Germination late, about with V. astivalis or a little later; foliation early to medium; 

 inflorescence a few days or a week later than V. vulpina; fruit ripens early, before V. labrusca 

 in most cases but hangs on in good condition till late in autumn. 



Plant: Feeble first year from seed, afterward most vigorous, enduring great drouth and heat, 

 but little if any hardier than Herbemont to endure cold; no diseases observed, but it is subject 

 to attacks of the "Leaf-Folder" (Desmia funeralis) which is very fond of it, perhaps owing to 

 the woolly leaves upon which they readily fasten their webs. It is exceedingly difficult to grow 

 from cuttings, lives to great age. Thg pollen of this species is very effective in fertilizing power 

 upon other species and in impressing characteristics of its own. Even birds will not eat the fruit 

 until dead-ripe, and the only value there may be in it lies in some hybrid forms which will root 

 easily from cuttings and then give a good graft stock, or wine grapes that will succeed well on 

 the "black- waxy" limestone land in which this species is chiefly found. 



It has been found naturally hybridized with V: Longii, V. vulpina, V. cinerea, and V. Lince- 

 cumii on Red River with Elvira in my vineyard in three instances, one of which is a very handsome 

 red grape of good quality, when no V. candicans grew nearer than one-half mile; with V. Ber- 

 landieri, V . monticola, and V. rupestris in regions southv^^est of the Brazos River in many places, 

 northwest from Austin, Texas. In France many artificial hybrids have been produced between 

 this and other species, notably V . vinifera, as with Pinot, Aramon, etc., furnishing some excellent 

 wine grapes. Prof E. W. Krause of Waco, Texas, some years ago produced hybrids of it with 

 cultivated varieties. 



It ranges from the Arkansas River in Oklahoma southward in Western Arkansas, all 

 Northern Texas as far northward as Clay county, southward through all Texas, east of the 



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