26 Vine ( Vitacece). [No. 5 



Fig. 10.— (4) Frost-Grape. Winter-Grape. Chicken-Grape. 

 'Possum-Grape. V. cordifblia, Mx. 



Flowers, in loose, many-blossomed clusters. May and 

 June. 



Leaves, three to five inches wide, coarsely and sharply 

 toothed, and sometimes slightly three-lobed ; smooth 

 and shining above, usually short-hairy on the ribs 

 beneath and on the leaf-stem ; green on both sides. 

 Apex, pointed. Base, heart-shaped, usually deeply 

 so. Stipules, small and soon falling. Tendrils and 

 flower-clusters, intermittent (lacking opposite each 

 second or third leaf). 



Bark, loose and shreddy. 



Fruit, about one quarter inch in diameter, black, shining, 

 without bloom ; very acid until made pleasant-flavored 

 by sharp frosts. Seeds, one or two rather large. 

 Clusters, loose, seldom compound. November. 



Found, in thickets and along streams from New England 

 westward and southward. 



A vine climbing to the height of ten to twenty feet. 



Fig. 11. — (5) River-Grape. V. vulphta, L. V. riphria, Mx. 



This species differs from the preceding (Frost-Grape) 

 chiefly in the following items : 



Flowers, in smaller and more compact clusters. 



Leaves, more shining, and more deeply and more fre- 

 quently three-lobed. Stipules, larger and more per- 

 sistent. 



