Description of Species 



Series I. Labruscas 

 1. VITIS LABRUSCA, Linnaeus, Spec. 203 in part. (See Plate VI.) 



Synonyms : * 



V. taurina, Walter, p. 242. 



V . palmata, pullata and tenuifolia, LeConte, II. cc. 271 and 707. 



V bracteata, LeConte, 11, cc. 



"Fox Grape," "Northern Muscadine," "Swamp Grape," in Tennessee. 



Plant: Moderately tapering or stocky, climbing 20 to 40 feet or more; leaves expanding 

 slowly, leaving the extending tip of branch somewhat naked in appearance. 



Roots: Spreading, rather soft and fleshy, not deeply penetrating. 



Wood: When young usually cylindrical or rarely obscurely angled and covered with yellowish 

 or whitish tomentum which becomes flocculent and sheds, by end of first season ; spinous pubescence, 

 with glandular tips is found on annual wood of many plants ; in a few such pubescence is abun- 

 dant, especially near the nodes, and gives a rasp-like feeling when the hand is rubbed along the , 

 shoot. Bark finely and regularly striated, moderately firm when mature, becoming, at maturity, 

 pale or dark brown or chestnut in color; epidermis separating into thin fibrous plates, and shed- 

 ding the second year; section of annual wood shows rays thin, pores numerous, of medium or 

 small size; nodes bent,, moderately enlarged; diaphragm 1/12' to l/S'f thick; biconcave; buds 

 medium large, conical; acute or less frequently globose-acute, covered with dark brown scales, 

 in expanding, medium to larg^, ro^y, woolly at tip; tendrils, in well grown wood, one on every 

 node, continuous , — a striking characteristic, being the only species possessing generally such 

 tendrils; usually once, but often twice forked, medium to long, cottony when young, smooth 

 and finely striated when mature; color brown, same as wood, persistent; internodes 2' to 5' or 6', 

 sometimes 8' to 10' long in very rapid growth, average 3' to 4'; pith medium, moderately and 

 gradually enlarged at lower end, color light brownr 



Leaves: Stipules medium to small, 1/8' to 1/6' long, by 1/10' to 1/8' wide, membranaceous, 

 delicately hairy; petiole large, enlarged for about 1/2 its length next to base, then narrowed 

 for about 1/3 its letlgth, gradually enlarging again to its insertion; obscurely poly^nal, without 

 a superior groove, cottony, finely pubescent along line of the obsolete groove. Blade varies 

 from 3' to 8' broad by 2^^' to 7' in length, average width about 43^', commonly twice the length 

 of petiole, average length 4', nearly plane, sometimes convexing upward, much less than in 

 V. candicans in specimens from South Atlaijtic States, the reverse in more northern specimens; 

 basal sinus rather deep, narrowly or broadly A shaped, with curved sides, sometimes closed 

 entirely by the lapping limbs, never truncate; g'enerally slightly lobed, ofteaa unequally so, as 

 in V. cinerea, but less prominent, lobes, mostly acute at summit with shallow narrow sinuses ; 

 teeth small, usually a very little convexing or with straight margins, mucronate; notches betv/een 

 generally angularly scalloped, obtuse, in some acute, margin eroded as if nibbled by mice; in 

 New York and New England specimens often showing V. vulpina characteristics, in sharp teeth 

 and shoulders, and in Virginia, Tennessee and Georgia specimens, small convex teeth, as in 

 V. cestivalis, or almost entire as in V. cinerea. Venation prominent from the 7 to 8 nearl}' 

 opposite pairs of ribs, partially obscured by the short, dense, whitish or brownish persistent felt on 

 under side between the ribs, the ribs and the petiole being only sparingly cottony; upper surface 

 densely appressed hairy, which is of a buff or pinkish color at first, becoming scattering and 

 floccose and shedding in maturity, leaving a wrinkled, dar,k dull green surface. Leaves on ground 

 shoots of old wood 3 to 5 lobed ; on young seedlings entire. 



* No attempt is made to give complete synonymy in this work, but sufficient to clearly indicate the species 

 treated. t ' A sign for inch. 



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