70 



viTACE^. (vine family.) 



***** Flowers perfect, in an open panicle, the pediceh mostly abortive, elongat- 

 ing, and plumose : drupe smooth. 

 9. R. eotinoides, Nutt. Smooth; leaves simple, membranaceous, oval, 

 obtuse, entire, acute at the base, the upper ones long-petioled ; panicle nearly 

 sessile, narrow, with erect branches ; flowers minute, — Interior of Alabama, 

 Buckley. Leaves, with the petiole, 3' - 4' long. 



Order 38. VITACEiE. (Vine Family.) 



Climbing shrubs, with watery juice, opposite stipulate leaves, and small 

 greenish flowers in panicled clusters opposite the leaves. — Calyx minute, 

 truncated. Petals 4-5, hypogynous or perigynous, valvate in the bud, 

 deciduous. Stamens 4-5, opposite the petals : anthers introrse. Ovary 

 2-celled, with 2 erect collateral ovules in each cell. Style short or none : 

 stigma slightly 2-lobed. Berry 1-4-seeded. Seeds anatropous, bony. 

 Embryo minute at the base of hard or fleshy albumen. Radicle inferior. 

 — Leaves simple or compound. Tendrils opposite the leaves. Flowers 

 perfect or polygamous, 



1. VITIS, L. Vine. Grape. 



Petals distinct, or remaining united at the apex and separating at the base, 

 inserted into a 4 - 5-lobed or cup-shaped disk which surrounds the ovaty. 

 5 I. Cissus. — Flowers perfect: petals and stamens 4-5 : style conspicuous: 

 stigma minute : leaves simple or compound. 



1. V. bipinnata, Torr. &Gray. Leaves bipinnate, smoothish; leaflets 

 small, ovate, sharply toothed; flowers somewhat cymose, on a long forking 

 peduncle ; petals 4-5, united at the apex, separating at the base ; style conical ; 

 disk 4-5-lobed; berry 2-4-seeded. (Ampelopsis bipinnata, Michx.) — Margins 

 of swamps, Florida and northward. June and July. — Tendrils none. Leaflets 

 1 ' long. Berry small, black. 



2. V. acida, L. Branches geniculate ; leaves trifoliolate, thick and rigid ; 

 leaflets small, cuneate-obovate, sharply' toothed at the apex ; flowers in com- 

 pound umbels ; petals 4, united at the apex, separating at the base ; style slen- 

 der ; disk cup-shaped, entire ; berry black, 1-sceded. — Key West. — Tendrils 

 stout and elongated. Leaflets J' long. Branchlets and peduncles flattened 

 and elongated. Leaves and parts of the panicle separating in drying, as also in 

 the next species. 



3. v. incisa, Nutt. Smooth ; stem climbing, warty ; leaves trifoliolate, 

 very thick and fleshy ; leaflets stalked, wedge-shaped and entire near the base, 

 the lateral ones 2-lobed, the middle 3-lobed, all mucronate-toothed or sen-ate ; 

 berry (purple) globose-ovate, nodding, pointed with the conspicuous slender style, 

 1-seeded. — Sandy shores of St. Vincent's Island, West Florida and westward. 

 Fruiting in November. — Stem 6° -12° long. Leaflets l'-3' long. Panicles 

 cymose. Berry 5'' - 6" long. Flowers not seen. 



