CHAP. XXVI. 



FITA^CE^. AMPELO'PSIS. 



481 



beneath, and the peduncles, tomentose. (^Dec. Prod,, i. p. 634.) Flowers 

 small and white. Berries small, brownish green, watery and acid, but 

 eatable. This plant produces a great quantity of clusters of small black 

 grapes, of an austere taste; but they would, doubtless, make a good red wine. 

 When it grows luxuriantly, as it generally does on the higher woody lands 

 of Jamaica, it is so full of juice, that a piece of a shoot, about 3 ft. long, 

 will yield near a pint of clear tasteless water, which has saved the lives of 

 many persons who have wandered long in the woods without any other 

 refreshment of a liquid sort. For this reason, the plant is called, in Jamaica, 

 water withe. According to Sloane, the fruit is red or deep purple, the 

 size of currants, and agreeably acid, as well as astringent. {Donh Mill., i. 

 p. 711.) Introduced in 1800, but seldom to be met with. Not in the 

 London Horticultural Society's Garden, nor in the collection of Messrs. 

 Loddiges. 



App. i, Othei' hardy or half- har-dy Species of Yltis. 



Dr. Wallich has enumerated upwards of fifty species of 

 ntis, natives Of India. Of these V. IVdllic/ii Dec, a native 

 of Nepal, was introduced in 1822, and treated as a stove 

 climber ; but it will probably be found half-hardy. V. gia- 

 br&ta Roth is a native oi" the East Indies, introduced 

 in 1819. It resembles in foliage V. vulplna, and is con- 

 sidered half-hardy. V. inrtica L. [fig. 145.) was introduced 

 in 1692, and is generally treated as a stove climber ; but, 

 being deciduous, if its wood could be ripened in suflHcient 

 time, it might stand our winters against a conservative 

 wall. The same may be said of V. c(e^sia Hort. Trans., a 

 native of Sierra Leone, introduced in 1822. There are 

 numerous other Indian and some Japan species, which re- 

 main to be introduced. There arc also some species natives 

 of South America, described by Humboldt, of which very 

 little is known ; but four of them, which are described in 

 Don's Miller^ are considered to be hardy. 



Of North American species and varieties no fewer than 

 130 have been described by Professor Rafinesque in his Me- 

 dical Flora, already quoted and in his Monograph of Ame- 

 rican Vines. (See Gard. Mag., vol. viii. p. 248.) 



Genus II. 



AMPELO'PSIS Michx. The Ampelopsis. Lin. Syst. Pentandria 

 Monogjnia. 



Identtfi,cation. Michx. Fl. Bor. Amer., 1. p. 159.; Dec Prod., 1. p. 632. ; Don's Mill., 1. p. 694. 

 .Synonymes. .''itis sp., and Cissus sp. 



Derivation. Ampelos, a vine, and opsis, resemblance ; similarity in the habits of the species. 



Gen. Char., Sfc. Calyx almost entire. Petals 5, falling off separately. Stigma 

 capitate. Ovary not immersed in a disk, including 2 — 4 o-v^ules. {Kunth, 

 Nov. Gen, Am., 5. p. 222., quoted in Dec. Prod., i. p. 632.) — A genus in- 

 termediate between Cfssus and Htis. (Dec, Prod., i. p. 632.) The species 

 are found in North America, in the north of Africa, in China, and in the 

 Himalaya. They are all climbing shrubs, mostly deciduous, of the easiest 

 propagation and culture: some of them, as the A. /^ederacea, are very orna- 

 mental. 



J. 1. A. corda'ta Michx, The cordate-leaved Ampelopsis. 



Identification. Michx. Bor. Amer., 1. p. 159. ; Dec. Prod., 1. p. 633. ; Don's Mill., 1. p. 694. 

 Synoni/mes. Cissus Ampelopsis Pers. Syn., 1. p. 142. ; Rtis indivisa Wilid. Baum., 538. 



Spec. Char,, S;c. Leaves heart-shaped, acute, toothed, indistinctly 3-lobed ; 

 the nerves villous beneath. Racemes doubly bifid. {Dec. Prod., i. p. 633.) 

 Found in North America, from Pennsylvania to Carolina, among hedge.?, 



LL 2 ' 



