VITIS VINIFERA. GRAPE VINE. 
Class V. PENTANDRIA. Order I. MONOGYNIA. 
Natural Order, YITES.— THE VINE TRIBE. 
Fig. (a) Represents the unexpanded flower. 
(6) The same, showing the petals fully expanded and cohering at the apex, before they fall, and suffer the anthers to spread and shed their pollen, 
(c) A magnified flower, the petals being removed, showing the calyx, with the germen and stamen. ( d ) A small cluster of flowers. 
The early history of the vine is involved in considerable obscurity, for the oldest profane writers that men- 
tion it, ascribe to it a fabulous origin. According to Baron Humboldt it grows wild on the coasts of the 
Caspian sea, in Armenia, and Georgia ; and it is naturalized, at least, in most of the temperate regions of 
the globe. Dr. Sibthorp and his friend Mr. Hawkins, judged it to be completely wild on the banks of rivers in 
Greece. It is probable, that the culture of the vine was introduced from the east; for in the sacred writings 
we are told, that Noah, after coming out of the ark, planted a vineyard, and f drank of the wine, and was drunken.’ 
The tradition of the ancient Egyptians informs us that Osiris first paid attention to the vine, and instructed 
other men in planting and using it. The inhabitants of Africa ascribe the cultivation of the vine, and the 
art of making wine from the fermented juice of the grape, to the ancient Bacchus. Dr. Sickler, who regards 
this useful plant of Persian origin, has given a learned and curious account of its migration to Egypt, 
Greece, and Sicily.* From Sicily it is supposed to have extended to Italy, Spain, and France ; and in the 
latter country it is believed to have been cultivated in the time of the Antonines, in the second century. 
The Phocians are said to have carried it to the south of France, and the Romans planted it on the banks of 
the Rhine. The vine, which is found wild in America, is very different from our Vitis vinifera ; it is there- 
fore, a popular error that the grape was common to both continents.f In very cold regions the vine re- 
fuses to grow, and within 25° or even 30° of the equator, it seldom flourishes so as to produce good fruit. 
In the northern hemisphere its culture forms a branch of rural economy from the 21° to the 51° of northern 
latitude, or from Schiraz in Persia to Coblentz on the Rhine. “ Some vineyards,” says Mr. Loudon, “ are 
found near Dresden and in Moravia, and by means of garden culture, it is made to produce fruit to a con- 
siderable degree of perfection in the hot-houses of St. Petersburgh and Stockholm.” 
The grape vine has a slender, twisted, irregular stem, sending out long, trailing, flexible, leafy, furrowed 
branches, which climb by means of tendrils to a great extent, and when young are clothed with loose shaggy 
down. The leaves are roundish, heart-shaped, notched, coarsely serrated; veiny, divided into five more or 
less distinct lobes, and are placed alternately on longish footstalks ; when young they are like the branches, 
especially beneath ; but otherwise naked and smooth. The tendrils are opposite to each footstalk ; they are 
solitary, spiral, divided, and about the length of the leaves. The flowers, which appear in Greece in May 
or June, are very small, of an herbaceous colour, and fragrant like Mignonette, and are produced in clusters. 
The clusters are drooping, panicled, much branched, with the ultimate stalks somewhat umbellate or co- 
rymbose. Each flower consists of five oblong, erect petals, cohering by their summits, downy at the top, 
and ultimately forced from their base by the stamens, which elevate them in the form of an umbrella. The 
calyx is very minute : the stamens are filiform, smooth, with oblong, incumbent anthers. The germen is 
superior, roundish, with a short style, and simple stigma. The fruit is a succulent globular berry, in the 
wild state not much larger than a pea, of a black colour, and containing five hard, irregular seeds. In the 
cultivated varieties the berry is frequently oval, oblong, or finger-shaped, and the principal colours are 
various shades of green, yellow, amber, and black. 
The grape vine is generally supposed to have been introduced into this country by the Romans ; but 
from Tacitus we learn, that it was not known when Agricola commanded in the island. At the invasion of 
the Saxons, however, under Hengist and Horsa, A. D. 449, the vine, it is said, was extensively cultivated ; 
and vineyards are mentioned in the earliest Saxon charters, as well as gardens and orchards. In Domesday 
Book, vineyards are noticed in several counties. William of Malmesbury, who flourished in the first half of 
* Geschichte der Obst. Cult . v. 1. f Humboldt, Gdoyraphie des Plantes, 4 to. p. 26. 
