Descriptive Flora 



133 



of flowers and fruits similar to the grapes given above. Leaves 

 simple, alternate. Blades commonly broader than long, some- 

 times heart shaped, iy 2 to 4 inches across, very coarsely toothed, 

 often slightly and irregularly lobed, not hairy. Grapes are 

 purple-black, slightly covered with a bloom, pleasant to the taste, 

 and ripe in August. These bushy plants are most common in 

 dry, stony or gravelly creek beds. 



Cissus incisa Desmoul. ' i Yerba del Buey. ' ' " Hierba del Buey ' \ 

 A vine climbing by tendrils, and having thick, crisp, fleshy, 

 3-lobed or 3-foliate leaves that have a very disagreeable odor 

 when crushed. Margins of leaf -blades sharply and irregularly 

 cut. Flowers yellowish-green, in clusters similar to Virginia 

 Creeper. Fruit small, 1 or 2-seeded, black, inedible, the 

 size of small peas, clustered like grapes. June to fall. In dry 

 soil. Commonly seen climbing over fences and brush. This vine 

 is commonly confused with poison ivy. 



Ampelopsis arbor ea (L.) Rusby. Pepper- vine. 



A climbing vine with few tendrils, and dark green leaves 

 similar to the Chinaberry tree of our yards. Leaves twice 

 pinnately compound. Leaflets many, small, coarsely toothed, 

 ovate to cuneate-obovate, about 1 inch long. Flowers small, in- 

 conspicuous, greenish, clustered like grapes. Fruits small, black 

 or dark purple, inedible. June to September. In low, moist 

 places, usually river and creek banks. Common in Brackenridge 

 Park. 



PartJienocissus lieptaphylla (Buckl.) Britton 



Ampelopsis lieptaphylla Buckl. Texas Virginia Creeper. 



Woody-stemmed vine with palmately-compound leaves and 

 climbing by tendrils that branch and end in adhering disks. 

 Leaflets mostly 7. Blades oblanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, long- 

 pointed, coarsely toothed above the middle (sometimes incised), 

 narrowed at the base. Flowers greenish, loosely clustered. 

 Fruits 3 to 4-seeded, black or dark blue berries the size of peas. 



