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VITELLINUS. Dull yellow, just turn- 

 ing to red ; the colour of the yolk of egg. 



VITELLTJS. The sac of the amnios in a 

 thickened state, and forming a case, within 

 which lies the embryo. 



VITELOTTE. (Fr.) A kind of long 

 red Potato. 



VITEX. A genus of Verbenacece, contain- 

 ing a large number of woody plants scat- 

 tered over the tropical regions of both 

 hemispheres, a few reaching as far north as 

 the Mediterranean. They have ternate digi- 

 tate or rarely simple leaves, and axillary 

 or terminal and paniculate cymes. The 

 short calyx is five-toothed ; the corolla 

 two-lipped, the upper lip being two-lobed 

 and the lower three-lobed ; thedidynamous 

 stamens exserted ; the ovary four-celled, 

 with one ovule in each cell ; and the 

 stigma bind, with pointed lobes. The 

 drupe is four-celled, or by abortion two- 

 celled. The plants of this genus are very 

 aromatic, and many of the fruits are very 

 acrid. The leaves bark and fruit of differ- 

 ent species are used medicinally by the na- 

 tives of India. [W.O.] 



VITICES. See Verbenacece. 



VITICULA. A trailing or scrambling 

 stem, like that of the vine, gourd, cucum- 

 ber, &c. The same as Vine. 



VITTCULOSE. Furnished with trailing 

 stems or viticuhe. 



VITIS. The genus Vitis is composed of 

 a considerable number of species, includ- 

 ing the well known Grape-Vine, which is 

 its most familiar and, in an economic 

 point of view, most important representa- 

 tive. It has a wide geographical range, 

 but is principally found in the Northern 

 Hemisphere, the majority of its species 

 being natives of Tropical and Temperate 

 Asia to as far north as Japan, and also of 

 North America, while none are indigenous 

 to Europe. All thespecies are climbers, fur- 

 nished with tendrils opposite the leaves, 

 as in the Grape- Vine ; the leaves of some 

 being simple and either undivided or va- 

 riously lobed, and of others compound. 

 Their small greenish flowers are disposed 

 in panicles set opposite the leaves, the 

 Eastern species having complete flowers, 

 and the Western usually incomplete ones, 

 the two sexes very frequently on different 

 plants. The genus belongs to the Vitece 

 section of the order Vitacece, having dis- 

 tinct stamens, and a two-celled ovary with 

 two ovules in each cell ; and is charac- 

 terised by its five petals being distinct 

 at the bottom but cohering at the top, 

 falling off without separating, and by its 

 berries containing four or by abortion 

 only two seeds. 



It may be observed that the petals are 

 slightly attached to the disk at the base 

 of the ovary, but they cohere at the top, 

 forming a sort of cap, which is usually 

 thrown off by the stamens as they elongate 

 and expand. Sometimes, however, the cap 

 is not thrown off, and the stigma is conse- 



quently not exposed to the pollen ; as a 

 consequence the berries, if they form at all, 

 are without seeds. 



The most important products of the 

 Grape-Vine are Wine (derived from the 

 Celtic gvrin) and Vinegar— the one obtained 

 by vinous and the other by acetous fermen- 

 tation of the juice of the fruit; Brandy, 

 a product of distillation ; and Currants 

 (Corinths) and Raisins, both of which are 

 the dried fruits— the former being those 

 of a particular small variety, the culture 

 of which is chiefly confined to the Ionian 

 Islands. These severally form very im- 

 portant articles of commerce throughout 

 the civilised world. The total computed 

 real value of the four principal ones in 

 our home-trade amounted in 1861 to 

 6,261,18&., and the revenue derived from 

 j them to 2,371,714/. [A. S.J . 



I The Grape-Vine is a native of the south- 

 i ern shores of the Caspian Sea, and of 

 I Armenia and Coramania. Associated with 

 the fig, it follows the shores of the Black 

 : Sea, through Pontus Mingrelia and Colchis, 

 ; and it has also been found in the Crimea. 

 I Alphonse De Candolle states that it 

 j grows spontaneously throughout the lower 

 region of the Caucasus, in the north but 

 more especially in the southern parts of 

 that chain ;, in Armenia, and on the south- 

 ern shores of the Caspian Sea ; and he adds, 

 'there can be no doubt, from historical 

 testimony and that of botanists, that this 

 was the original country of the vine. But 

 i no species of Vitis is wild in Europe.' 

 i The cultivation of the Vine dates soon 

 after the Flood : ' Noah began to be an hus- 

 j bandman, and he planted a vineyard.' From 

 Asia, according to Humboldt, the vine 

 passed into Greece, and thence into Si- 

 cily. It was early carried into France by the 

 I Phocasans, when those Ionian colonists 

 fled from the power of Cyrus, and founded 

 the city of Marseilles, about 540 B.C. From 

 Greece or from Sicily it could have been 

 easily introduced into Italy. The Romans 

 planted it on the banks of the Rhine, and 

 even.it is said, in Britain. But Tacitus 

 mentions, B.C. 55, that our climate was 

 thought unpropitious to the vine, which 

 failed to mature its fruit owing to the moist 

 atmosphere of our island. It would appear 

 from this that its cultivation had been 

 attempted, for otherwise its failure could 

 not have been asserted. The same author 

 states that it was not known when Agri- 

 cola commanded the island. Dornitian 

 restricted the cultivation of the vine, 

 wishing rather to encourage that of grain; 

 but in a.d. 278, permission to plant the 

 vine was given by the Emperor Probus. 

 Being free from restriction, its cultiva- 

 tion throughout the provinces, including 

 Britain, would of course extend; and le- 

 fore the Roman power had so far declined 

 as to permit the Saxon invasion, vineyards 

 must have existed in this country. They 

 are mentioned in the earliest Saxon 

 charters, and those vineyards must have 

 existed previously; for, as authors have 

 remarked, the combating invaders could 

 neither have had the time, nor probably the 



