HARDY ORNAMENTAL VINES. 



397 



The manner of its introduction and the date are both unknown, but 

 the original plant still exists at the Knap Hill Nursery of Mr. Anthony 

 Waterer, where it has stood for many years. 



Vitis vinifera, the Grape Vine, is well known to all on account of the 

 luscious fruit which it produces, and for which it is generally grown, but 

 it is by no means devoid of interest or beauty when cultivated for 

 ornament where ample space is available. The type, or one of its 

 varieties, should certainly be included in garden collections, and several 

 distinct forms are grown for decorative purposes only. Perhaps the best 

 is the one known as purpurea, the leaves of which are green and downy 

 when young, changing as they mature to a deep plum-purple, in autumn 

 deepening in colour to a rich blackish-purple. The variety known as the 

 ' Teinturier Grape ' has green leaves resembling the species which in 

 autumn assume rich and varied crimson and purple tints. 



Of the cut-leaved varieties, that known as the ' Parsley Vine,' or 

 Vitis vinifera apiifolia, is perhaps the one most frequently met with ; it is 

 worth growing for its light and graceful appearance, imparted by the 

 deeply cut and laciniated leaves. This variety is also cultivated for its 

 fruit, not of the first quality, but produced freely on walls out of doors. 

 It is known to Vine-growers as 1 Ciotat,' or Vitis laciniosa, and is said to 

 have been grown in gardens since 1648. 



Of species which are not quite hardy in other than favourable 

 localities in Great Britain, mention may be made of Vitis orientalis, a 

 native of the Levant, with purple leaf -stalks and bipinnate leaves, intro- 

 duced, according to Loudon, in 1818, and figured by him in his ' Encyclo- 

 paedia ' from specimens growing in the collection of Messrs. Loddiges. 



Vitis striata, from the Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, an evergreen species 

 with five-lobed leaves, usually known as Ampelopsis sempervirens, is not 

 altogether a success, though sometimes met with. 



Vitis himalayensis, from the Himalaya, is really a fine Vine, but 

 difficult to propagate, and tender, except in the South of England and 

 special localities. The leaves of this species are trifoliate, with coarsely 

 serrate margins and prominent veins, clothed with adpressed hairs on the 

 under-surface. The petiole is grooved. In autumn it is one of the 

 earliest to colour, the foliage becoming a rich sanguineous red. 



The so-called Vitis or Ampelopsis Hoggi is not a Vitis, but Bints 

 Toxicodendron, the ' Poison Ivy ' of Japan. 



Several other distinct Chinese species are growing at Coombe Wood 

 to which specific names have not yet been applied. They may prove to 

 be new species or merely geographical forms of species already known. 

 Reproductions of photographs of leaves of a few of the most distinct are 

 given (figs. 91, 93, 94, 103, 105, 106, 108). 



