VINE OF ECONOMIC PLANTS. 429 



appearance it has yearly excited public curiosity. In its native 

 country it is a perennial, having a long under-water rhizome, 

 like the yellow water-lily. In this country it seldom lives 

 through the winter, hut is readily grown from seeds each year. 

 The plant consists of a crown producing leaves and flowers. 

 The leaves when full grown measure 6 or 7 feet in diameter, 

 and are perfectly circular, with the margin turned up about two 

 inches, resembling a large tray. The under side is full of raised 

 ribs, and very prickly. They are attached by their centre to a 

 stalk which when full grown is often not less than 10 feet in 

 length, and about the thickness of the finger. The leaves are 

 produced in succession round the crown from left to right, each, 

 when the plant is perfect, producing a flower-bud in its axis, 

 which gradually rises on a stalk to the surface, opening in the 

 afternoon. The flower consists of numerous petals of a pure 

 white, and when fully expanded is from 10 inches to 1 foot in 

 diameter ; it then emits a powerful and pleasant odour. During 

 the morning of the next day it partially closes, expanding again 

 in the afternoon, the colour then being pink, and on the third 

 day it finally closes and withers. 



Vinatico Wood. (^S^^ Laurel.) 



Vine ( Vitis mniferd), a tendril climbing shrub, having long, 

 slender branches, of the Grape Vine family (Ampelidese), sup- 

 posed to have been originally a native of the region of the 

 Caspian, and early cultivated in Western Asia, through which it 

 has spread, and is now cultivated in the temperate zones of both 

 hemispheres. The fruit is a berry, growing in bunches, and 

 called Grapes. The chief manufactured products of the grape 

 are wine and brandy, the former obtained from the juice by 

 fermentation, the latter by distillation. The Yine was early 

 cultivated in Egypt and Southern Europe, and is supposed to 

 have been introduced into England by the Eomans. It appears 

 to have been extensively cultivated by the monks for wine- 

 making ; but on account of the seasons not being favourable, 

 has long ceased to be grown for that purpose. The great wine 

 and brandy producing districts are the countries of the Ehine, 



