408 THE VEGETABLE WORLD. 
thousand feet above the sea; B. tragacanthoides, with one or two . 
pairs of leaflets, and the points of the leaves hardened into spines, 
is found on the banks of the Kur, near Tiflis. 
Farmers in England have an idea that the proximity of the 
Barberry to wheat-fields interferes with their crops. It is difficult 
to imagine why, unless the cidium berberidis, the fungus which 
is known to infest it, acts injuriously on the wheat crop, producing 
rust or mildew. 
The Viracea, or Vine tribes, consist of sarmentose and climb- 
ing shrubs, that is, with filiform twining runners ; the Grape being 
the type of the order, which Kunth names Ampelideg, from apredoc, 
the vine; and Jussieu, Vites, from vitis,a vine. The order has 
acid properties, in common with Grossulacew and Berberacez, and 
includes six genera, which are for the most part found in the 
temperate zone of both hemispheres. Like all extensively cul- 
tivated plants, the native country of the Vine (Vitis venifera) is 
doubtful. Itis among the plants spoken of in the Books of Moses, 
when the Vine appears to have been used as it is in the present 
day. From this circumstance, there is little doubt of its being truly 
indigenous in Asia between the Black Sea and the Caspian—of 
Mount Ararat and of the Taurus. In the forests of Mongrelia and 
Imeretia it flourishes in great magnificence, climbing to the tops 
of the highest trees, bearing bunches of fruit of delicious flavour. 
The Vine is found growing wild in many parts of France and 
Germany, and as far north as the 55th parallel, and also all over 
the south of Europe and Asia Minor, and southern latitudes a3 
high as 40°, but it may be doubted if it is indigenous in any part 
of Europe. 
The Sabean farm, of which Horace said, 
“ Angulus iste feret piper et thusocyus uva,” 
is altogether changed, for vines hang in festoons from tree to tree 
over the site of his abode, supposing Mr. George Dennis is correct 
in placing the farm in the valley of the Digentia, and the Fons 
Bandusiz in the narrow glen which opens just beyond it. 
In Middle Germany the Vine ceases to grow at 1,500 feet above 
the level of the sea; south of the Alps it reaches 2,000 feet ; on the 
Apennines and in Sicily it grows at 5,000 feet, and in the 
