86 BUCKTHORN FAMILY. 



■1- ^- Bark of stein dose and smooth, pale. 

 V. vulpina, Muscadixb, Bullace, or Fox-Grape of the South. River- 

 biinks from Maryland and Kentucky S. : leaves rather small, round in outline, 

 Seldom and slightly lobed, glossy and mostly smooth both sides, the margin cut 

 into coarse and broad teetli ; clusters small; fruit large, ^' -%' in diameter, 

 purple, thick-skinned, musky, or pleasant-flavored, ripe in early autumn : the 

 original of the Scuppeknong Grape, &c. 



§ 2. CissDS. Petals and stamens 4 or 5, the former openinij retjufarli) : disk 

 thick and broad, i-5-lobed: flowers mostly perfect : berries not larger than 

 peas, not eatable. 

 # Wild species S. ^ W., smooth, -usually with 5 stamens and petals. 

 V. indivisa, a species with simple leaves like those of a true Grape, heart- 

 shaped or ovate, pointed, coarsely-toothed, but not lobed ; flowei-'-clusters small 

 and loose ; style slender. 



V. bipinn^ta, a bnshy or low-climbing plant, with few tendrils, and de- 

 compound leaves, the small leaflets cut-toOthed. 



«E * Exotic speciis, with rnodtli/ 4 stamens and petals. 

 V. heteroph^Ua, from Japan, a form with the leaves blotched or varie- 

 gated with white (small, thin, variously 3 - 5-lobed), and small blue berries, is 

 hariLy in gardens ; cult, for the variegated foliage. 



V. discolor, from Java, cult, in hothouses, for its splendid foliage ; leaves 

 lance-oblong with a heart-shaped base, crimson underneath, velvety-lustrous 

 and dark-green shaded with purple or violet, or often mottled with white, on the 

 upper surface, the shoots reddish. 



2. AMPELOPSIS, VIRGINIA-CREEPER. (Name from Greek words, 

 meaning like the Vine : indeed, it is hardly distinct enough from the second 

 section of Vitis.) 



A. quinquefdlia, the only genuine species : in all low grounds, climbing 

 extensively, sometimes by rootlets as well as by the tendi-ils, the latter specially 

 fitted for ascending w_alls giid trunks, to which they attach themselves fir-mly by 

 sncker-like disks at the tip of their branches (Lessons, p. 38, figs. 62, 63) ; leaf- 

 lets 5, digitate, lance-oblong, cut-toothed, changing to crimson in autumn; 

 flowers cymose, in summer ; berries small, black or bluish. 



33. RHAMNACEiE, BUCKTHORN FAMILY. 



Shrubs or trees, of bitterish and astringent properties, with simpk 

 chiefly alternate leaves and small flowers ; well marked by the sta- 

 mens of the number of the valvate sepals (4 or 5) and alternate 

 with them,'i. e. opposite the petals, inserted on a disk whicli lines 

 the calyx-tube and often unites it with" the base of the ovary, this 

 having a single erect ovule in each of the (2-5) cells. Branches 

 ofteh thorny :, stipules minute or none : flowers often apetalous or 

 polygamous. Petals commonly hooded or involute around the sta- 

 men before it., (Lessons, p. 1-26, iig. 282, 283.) 



* Calyx free from the ovary. 



1. BERCHEMIA. Twining climbers, with straight-veined leaves. Petals 13, with- 



out claws, i-ather longer than the stamens. Disk thick, nearly filling the bot- 

 tom of the ciilyx. Ovary 2-ceIled, becoming a 2-celled small stone-fruit, with 

 purple and thin pulp. 



2. RHAMNUS. Erect shrubs or trees, with loosely-veined, leaves. Petals 4 or 6| 



with short claws. Stamens short. Ovary 2-4-celled, bjcomhiff n blfloli 

 berry-like fruit, containing 2-4 cartilaginous seed-like nutlets, whicli are 

 grooved on the back, as is the contained seed. Cotyledons Ibliaceous. 

 2. FKANGULA. Like Ehamnus, bnt with straight-veined leaves ; the nutlets 

 not grooved but convex on the iaok: cotyledons thick. 



