16. VITIS RUBRA, Michaux. In Herbario Musaie Parisiensis. (See Plate XXVI.) 



Synonym : 



V. palmata, Engelm. Bushberg Cat., p. 17, 1883.* ' 



"Cat Bird Grape." 



Plant: Slender, branching moderately, climbing high; tips of extending branches very 

 naked, not leafy as in V. vulpina and V. rupestris, similar in habit to V. cordifolia, though less 

 rampant, about equal with V. moniicola, grows in bottom lands; the entire aspect of vine is very 

 graceful and beautiful. 



Roots: Rather thick, abundant, finely divided near the surface, but the deeper ones a little 

 wrinkled transversely as in V. cordifolia, hard and penetrating. 



Wood : First year, always dark crimson red until mature, thinly supplied with whitish cottony 

 hairs and angularly grooved, with a few scattering warts especially near the nodes, otherwise 

 perfectly smooth; when mature of a reddish-brown or chestnut color, finely striated, shining, 

 smooth, or slightly scabrous; bark on old wood separating in wide, thin plates as in V. cordifolia; 

 nodes little enlarged, slightly bent; diaphragm quite thick, 1/8' to 1/5' biconcave; buds small, 

 sub-triangular, acute, covered with dark brown scales, in unfolding small, slender, pale crimson, 

 or pinkish-green, closed tip; tendrils intermittent, forked, strong, red when young and having a 

 few cottony hairs, persistent; intemodes short, medium, or about the same as V. cordifolia; 

 pith small, a little enlarged at lower end. 



* Upon the finding of specimens of this species in 1882 near St. Louis, by Mr. H. Eggert, Dr. Engelmann thought 

 he recognized it as Michaux' K. rubra, but later (Bushberg Cat. 1883, p. 17) he was of the opinion that it is 

 V. palamata (Vahl, Symb. 3, 42), which Watson's Index makes a synonym of V. csstivalis. Referring to the 

 matter, J. E. Planchon, the most eminent of all ampelographers, in "La Vigne Americaine," 1884, January 

 number, shows with great care that it is very doubtful whether Vahl's species was this species. Prof. A. Millardet is 

 of the same opinion (Especes de Vignes d'Origine Americaine, p. 224). As both these eminent authorg lived in 

 France, where Engelmann claimed Vahl's vine to be growing in the Jardin des Plantes, Paris, "for perhaps one 

 hundred years," they surely ought to know better than Engelmann living in this country. Vahl's specimen was 

 reported from Virginia, where V. rubra does not grow, but where palmately-lobed V. vulpina is often found, and 

 it is most probable that his specimen belongs to V, vulpina, L. 



The following was published in the Forest and Garden, N. Y., Dec. 31st, 1890: 



"Sir : — I send you the result of some inquiries concerning Vahl's V. palmata which seems to settle in this country 

 (it has already been settled in France, where American Grapes are most diligently studied) the dispute as to which 

 name should be used, V. rubra, Mx., or V. palmata, Vahl, to designate the species of Grape which was rediscov- 

 ered by H. Eggert on the Mississippi River above St. Louis in 1882, and which Dr. Engelmann, in the Bushberg 

 Catalogue, 1883, claimed to identify as Vahl's V. palmata, which he so classified, and which was illustrated for 

 the first time in the July, 1889, Garden and Forest, under Engelmann's name, V. palmata. 



In the January number, 1884, of La Vigne Americaine, published in France, J. E. Planchon, referring to 

 Engelmann's use of V. palamata, reviewed all the evidence then at command bearing upon the subject 

 (pages 15-20). I make here a few extracts from Planchon's article: 'Sous le nom de Vitis Palmata, le botaniste 

 Danois Vahl, a decrit, en 1794, dans ses Symbolae Botanicae (3« partie, p. 42), une vigne qu'il avait recue du 

 Jardin des Plantes de Paris et a laquelle il consacre 1' article suivant que je traduis du latin en francais', etc. After 

 Vahl's description as translated by Planchon, the latter remarks: 'Une description aussi incomplete, ne 

 comprenant ni les fleurs, ni le fruit, devait laisser des doutes sur la determination de cette plante. Aussi I'a-t-on 

 rapportee souvent comme synonyme a d'autres especes, par example au Riparia de Midiaux, a I'Estivalis du 

 meme auteur, ou meme au Labrujca de Linne.' 



From the above it appears that Vahl obtained the plant he described so incompletely, from the Jardin des 

 Plantes in Paris. This plant it appears had several synonyms, such as y. Virginiana, V. Virginica, and V. Vir- 

 giniensis (see Planchon's article, pp. 16 and 17). Finally, in summing up the whole matter; Planchon says 

 (p. 20), that the evidence 'me confirme tout a fait dans I'idee que le Vitis rubra, Michaux, est distinct du 

 Palmata, Vahl.' 



This decision, from such an eminent ampelographer as J. E. Planchon, should of itself be sufficient; but to make 

 doubly certain, I wrote to Professor Pierre Viala, — who was for years associated with Planchon, who, in 1887, visited 

 this country on a special commission from the French government to investigate the native grapes of the United 

 States, who since that time has published the completest works upon our species extant, and who this year spent six 

 months in Paris as a specialist in Viticulture for the French government- — to investigate the plant in question, in the 

 Garden of Plants, Paris, and let me know whether it is the true V. rubra of Michaux or not; and here is his 

 reply, dated November 11th, 1890: 



'Le V. palmata de Vahl, du Jardin des Plantes de Paris est un V. riparia, et non de vrai V. rubra, de 

 Michaux.' 



Hence we have in synonymy V. rubra, Mx., Syn., V. palmata, Engelmann, Bushberg Catlg., 1883, and Garden 

 and Forest, July, 1889; V. riparia, Mx., Syn. V. palmata, Vahl. So V. palmata must not be used except as a 

 synonym. 



It will be remembered that in an article of mine published in Garden and Forest for October 1st, V. palmata 

 was substituted where I had written V. rubra. X \' Munson " 



Denison, Texas, Dec, 1890 



—78— 



