Roots: In one year seedlings axial, tapering downward; wiry, penetrating very deeply and 

 fully resistant, rooting in the firmest very limy clay soils as well as in sandy land. 



Wood : Growing tips less leafy than V. Doaniana, more than V. candicans, covered with 

 whitish tomentum which mostly disappears with maturity. Wood at first somewhat angled,, 

 becoming cylindrical; at first red or green, becoming dark, dull reddish-brown ; bark of old wood 

 rather finely checked and persistent ; on young wood after first year, flaking off easily, leaving 

 surface beneath of a glossy reddish -brown color; wood firm; nodes swollen, straight; diaphragnx 

 1/16' to 1/12', nearly plane; bud medium, subglobose when dormant, large rusty dark green 

 when expanding; tendrils medium, 3' to 5' long, once forked, rarely twice, thinly tomentose; 

 intemodes IJ/^' to 4', finely and regularly striated ; pith rather thicker in diameter than surrounding^ 

 annual wood. 



Leaves: Stipules 1/8' to 1/5' long by nearly as wide, broad-subovate ; thinly tomentose, 

 pale pink at first, browning after two or three days exposure in opening leaves ; petiole 1' to 2'" 

 long, cylindrical, with an obscure groove on upper side, thinly woolly; blade 2)^' to 4' wide, 

 mid-rib 2' to 3' long, broad cordate in outline; basal sinus broad, double curved, acute at inser- 

 tion of petiole; margins rarely lobed, then only with slight shoulders; apex very short, acute; 

 teeth broad, short, irregular, obtuse dentate, with small mucron, usually scalloped between, 

 teeth ; venation from the generally 6 pairs of ribs ; upper surface of blade at first thinly tomentose, 

 becoming dark glossy green at full growth and slightly rugose ; lower surface much paler, never 

 glossy, thinly woolly, becoming nearly devoid of tomentum at maturity ; foliage has less tomentum. 

 and is smaller than V. Doaniana or V . candicans. 



Cluster: Fertile, — 13^' to 3' long, shouldered, shoulder half the length of the main part 

 otherwise simple; peduncle generally as long as cluster; pedicels smooth, 1/16' to 1/20' long 

 staminate, — twice or more as large as the fertile 3' to 4' long, shouldered, tomentose, greenish - 

 pedicels 1/12' to 1/10' long. 



Flowers: Fertile, — large stamens, short recurved, pollen impotent, pistil thick with short 

 thick style and large stigma; staminate, — stamens medium ascending, pollen very abundant. 



Berries: Medium, round, black with thin or no prunose bloom when ripe; persistent; skin 

 rather thin, tough, possessed of abundance of coloring matter, little pungency; pulp generally 

 juicy, melting, of rich agreeable flavor, but lacking in sugar. 



Seeds: 1 to 3, 1/6' to 1/4' long by l/7'tol/6' broad, obovoid when but one in a berry; beak 

 short, small or blunt ; raphe extends from beak as a very slender imbedded thread or hair in the 

 elevation between two rather deep, nearly parallel ventral depressions which lie close along it, 

 becoming invisible as it passes in the slight groove over the top of the seed and passing gradually 

 into the narrow, elongated, sunken or slightly elevated, chalaza, located in the center of back o£ 

 seed, or little above, thence a slight groove extends to the beak. 



Plantlet: Seed-leaves, petiole 1/6' to 1/4'; blade medium, broadly elliptical, acute summit, 

 green, plumule and caulicle crimson; rather vigorous, declining or partly upright first year; 

 leaves always entire on young vines. 



Viticultural Observations and Remarks 



Germination later than V. Doaniana, about with V. vinifera and V. cordifolia, foliation with 

 or before V. rupestris; inflorescence about with that species; ripening of fruit also nearly as 

 early as V. rupestris; exfoliation very late. 



Vigorous, stocky habit of growth; grows very readily from cuttings. Takes and carries 

 varieties grafted on it in the best manner, as I have proven in many cases. In quality the fruit 

 is one of the best of our wild grapes. In view of these qualities it certainly promises to be one 

 of the best graft stocks we have for all soils and especially for regions in France, — as in the 

 Ch^rente-Inferieur and elsewhere,— where the soils are similar to the dry limy and chalky soils, 

 in which this is so vigorous, in its native habitat, and as a basis to use in hybridizing upon for 



—38— 



