BOTANY. 179 
most important plants of the order are the various species of Vitis or Vine, 
of which there are five species in the United States. One of these, Vitis 
labrusca or the Fox grape of the northern States, is probably the progenitor 
of the varieties known as the Isabella, the Catawba, and others. Vitis 
vulpina, the Fox grape of the South, affords a pleasant fruit, and has probably 
some cultivated varieties. The remaining North American species are ot 
little value. The native abode of the typical vine, Vitis vinifera, is not 
known in its whole extent. It occurs wild in many parts of Europe, Asia, 
and Africa, yet many localities of the kind may have been originally sup- 
plied by plants which had been introduced from other places. Most authors 
fix the original seat of this important species in the old Cy renaica, in the 
country between the Black and Caspian Seas. Here the vine attains to a 
diameter of three to six inches, and mounts to the tops of the highest 
trees. Omitting as unsuited to this part of our work, the details of wine 
manufacture, we shall proceed to mention some of the principal varieties 
of this liquor as it occurs in commerce. 
Wines are distinguished in the first place into white and red. The white 
are more or less yellow or brown, becoming darker by age; the red derive 
their color from the skins of the grapes, which are mowed to remain in 
contact with the juice for a certain length of time. Of the Rhenish wines 
the Asmannshauser is red, the Johannisberger, the Markobrunner, and the 
Hochheimer, are white. The Leistenwein, Steinwein, Calmuth, Wirzburger, 
and Werthheimer, come from Franconia. The Melnicker comes from 
Bohemia, Moselle from Trier and Coblentz: the Affenthaler from Baden. 
The principal Hungarian wines are the Tokay, Menesch, Oedenburger, and 
Ofen. The principal French wines are the white and red Bordeaux: 
Medoe, Graves, and Burgundy: the champagnes, especially the foaming, 
from Silleray, Epernay, &c. The Spanish wines are mostly yellowish 
brown, or red, and sweet, as Sherry, Malaga, Benicarlo, &c. Port is a 
highly prized Portuguese wine; Madeira wine, and the Constantia from 
the Cape of Good Hope, are much esteemed. Italian and Greek wines are 
generally excellent, but rarely occur in commerce. 
Vitis vinifera, wine grape (pl. 67, fig. 8); a, a branch with flowers and 
tendrils ; 6, a bunch of grapes; ¢, ovary; d, sexual apparatus; e, a perfect 
flower ; 7, cross-section of ovary; g, pistil; A, section of ovary ; 7h, seed. 
Orver 176. Crpretacex, the Mahogany Family. Calyx four- to five- 
cleft, with imbricated estivation. Petals four to five, with imbricated 
estivation. Stamens eight to ten, united below into a tube, sometimes 
distinct, inserted into a hypogynous annular disk; anthers bilocular, 
acuminated, with longitudinal dehiscence. Ovary usually four- or five- 
celled ; ovules anatropal, pendulous; style simple; stigma peltate. Fruit 
a capsule opening septifragally. Seeds winged ; albumen thin or 0; embryo 
straight, erect ; cotyledons fleshy. Trees with alternate, pinnate, exstipulate 
leaves. They are found in the tropical parts of America and Asia. 
Lindley enumerates nine genera, including twenty-five species. Examples: 
Cedrela, *Swietenia. This order includes as its most important species, 
the mahogany tree, Swietenia mahogoni, a native of the West Indies and 
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