stigma very small, semi-globose, nearly sessile; sterile, — stamens long, straight, ascending at an 

 angle of 45'' to 50° from axis of receptacle extended. 



Berries: 12 to 30, small, 1/5' to 1/3' in diameter, round, shining black, covered with numer- 

 ous small brown punctate, or lenticose dots, but never having prunose bloom, quite persistent; 

 very little ■^idp, juicy, with crimson or violet coloring matter next skin, which is thin; vinous, 

 sometimes quite good but generally acid and devoid of the peculiar Muscadine flavor and odor 

 common in V. rotundifolia. 



Seeds: 3 to 4 in each berry, small, 1/6' to 1/5' long by 1/10' to 1/16' broad, being not more 

 than 1/4 or 1/5 as large in bulk on the average as in V. rotundifolia, sides often unequal, surface 

 glossy, dark greenish-brown coffee color, much darker than in V. rotundifolia, beak very small, 

 short, acute, or none; raphe plainly or obscurely visible but not prominent within the notch 

 at top of seed till it reaches the inner face, there hair-like; chalaza prominent, acute elliptical, 

 lying within a distinct groove, which starts faintly near the- beak, forks arouffd -chaiaza, passing 

 distinctly to top of seed, where it forms a notch, border finely wrinkled around chalaea; ventral 

 depressions small, rather deep, upper end enlarged, curving a little outward, margins wrinkled, 

 color rusty olive green in new seeds. 



Plantlet: Cotyledons small, ovate, acute, nearly sessile, and truncate at base, dark purple 

 beneath. 



Viticultural Observations and Remarks 



Germination early to medium; foliation begins about February 5th, continuing to March 

 15th, at Manatee, Florida; inflorescence at Manatee continuously from May 15th to October, — 

 J. H. Simpson. At Lake Worth, Fla., commences blooming earlier and continues still later, 

 having flowers, green and ripe fruit on same vine into December, — G. S. Rowley. Hence it is called 

 "Everlasting Grape." This everbearing characteristic does not belong to V. rotundifolia only 

 in a limited degree, and in the same region it begins blooming 6 to 7 weeks later and ceases 

 blooming earlier,— J. H. Simpson. Fruit begins to ripen about August 1st at Manatee; 

 exfoliation very late. In the open ground at Denison, Texas, V. Munsoniana holds its leaves much 

 later than V. rotundifolia and is the last species among all the rest to have the leaves killed by 

 frost. It there begins blooming and ripening about a week later than V. rotundifolia and 

 continues to bloom and make fruit much later, often till stopped by frost. 



Vigorous but slender, more upright when young than V. rotundifolia, which is less branched 

 and more sprawling in young vines, but becomes much more drooping, or weeping on trellis 

 than V. rotundifolia, .the lateral branches very slender, almost filiform. 



The ever-blooming character of ^this species, with its smaller seeds, larger clusters, more 

 vinous and acid'than V. rotundifolia! and its freedom from disease, may render it an excellent 

 material with which to hybridize the finer V. vinifera varieties to secure valuable grapes for the 

 extreme south and the tropics. Hybrids of this with V. coriacea and probably with other, species 

 have been found. It is often intermingled with V. rotundifolia in Central Florida where the 

 two coalesce. It has been regarded by Dr. Chapman as being only a variety of V rotundifolia* 

 but a comparison of the characteristics of each, and their distribution as here given from 

 extended observation, demonstrate that these forms differ as widely, if not more, widely, 

 especially in a most vital point,— berry and seeds,— than V. rupestris and V. vuipma, which 

 are well acknowledged, and than V. aestivalis and V. Lincecumii now separated by 

 Planchon. 



kI T, \ll\r^\ty\on written me in reply was to the effect that Rafinesque's description is so meager and 

 concerning It their opinion wrmen J "> ^^-f p ^ p ^j^j^ (j^ une Mission Viticole, p. 166) expresses the 



opS thatl Mul^^TvFl^ridZaXnt is in doubt and nJ means of identifying it as his species, and as 

 ^Zchonrlco^i^V^ Munsoniana and M. Viala also gives V. Munsomana preference, I still hold to it. 



—109— 



