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Vitis (classical Latin name). Vine. Grape. Vitaceae or Ampelideae. Tendril-climbers (some members of the genus Cissus erect) grown as ornamental vines but particularly for the edible fruits or grapes.
The genus is variously defined, but if Cissus is excluded it is distinguished as follows (Gray): Plants climbing by the prehension and coiling of naked-tipped tendrils: fls. polygamo-dioecious (i. e., some individuals perfect and fertile, others sterile with at most only a rudimentary ovary), 5-merous; corolla calyptrately caducous—the petals in anthesis cast off from the base while cohering by their tips (Fig. 3954); hypogynous disk of 5 nectariferous glands alternate with stamens; style short and thick, or conical: berry pulpy; seeds pyriform, with contracted beak-like base.—A widespread genus of the northern hemisphere, most abundant in temperate countries. In its stricter limitations, the genus includes less than 60 known species, but some authors unite Cissus and Ampelopsis with it, when it includes some 250 species. The standard monographer (Planchon, DC. Monogr. Phaner. 5), refers 30 or more species to Vitis in the main account and in the addendum, and more than 200 to Cissus. N. Amer. is particularly rich in Vitis, not only in number of species but in the widespread distribution and the abundance of the plants. From the native species have been developed the outdoor grapes of this country except those of Calif. and the extreme S. W. (which are Vitis vinifera). For an account of the evolution of these native cultural varieties, see Bailey, Sketch of the Evolution of Our Native Fruits; Hedrick's Grapes of New York, a notable volume issued by the N. Y. Agric. Exp. Sta.; also Munson, Foundations of American Grape Culture, 1909. For a sketch of Vitis and similar plants as ornamental vines, with illustrations, see Veitch, Journ. Roy. Hort. Soc. 28 (1903-4). For cult., and control of insects and diseases, see Grape. For recent studies in lf. variation and in pollen sterility, see M. J. Dorsey, Proc. Amer. Breeders' Assoc., vol. 7 (1912), and Bull. No. 144, Minn. Exp. Sta. (1914).
Many of the species of Vitis are excellent ornamental plants, when it is desired to cover arbors, porches, or trees; a number of the recently introduced oriental species (some of them properly referable to Ampelopsis and Parthenocissus) seem to be particularly interesting for such use. All of them are readily grown from seeds, and most of them from hardwood cuttings. Only a few of the native species are regularly in the trade; but with the possible exception of V. Treleasei they have been offered for sale to experiment stations and amateurs by the late T. V. Munson, of Texas, a well- known authority on both the botany and horticulture of the grape. The popular interest in these species is primarily pomological; for, although the fruit may not be directly useful, the species give promise of development through hybridization and plant-breeding, and some of them afford useful stocks on which to graft kinds that do not resist the phylloxera or root-louse. The following discussion includes all the species native to North America north of Mexico; it is adapted from the writer's account in Gray's "Synoptical Flora," vol. 1, 420-430. These American grapes are very difficult to distinguish in many cases; hence the subjoined descriptions are full, to bring out the contrasting characters. Some of the best recent systematic writing on American Vitis is from French sources, since the American species have come into prominence in France as phylloxera-resisting stocks for the wine grape. See, for example, the works of Millardet, and Viala and Ravaz; also "Ampelographie Universelle," by Viala and Vermorel. Many of the species listed in the trade under Vitis will be found in the genera Ampelopsis, Parthenocissus, and Cissus.
The grape-vines of eastern Asia, although apparently not yielding fruit of value, are interesting as ornamental vines, and some of them are likely to come into prominence for their good foliage and brilliant autumn coloring. They are little known with us as yet. V. Coignetiae and V. amurensis are hardy in the northern states. Those tender at the Arnold Arboretum and more or less killed back in winter are V. Davidii, V. flexuosa, V. Romanetii, V. pulchra, V. reticulata, V. Piasezkii, and V. pentagona.
Vitis species are of easy culture for ornament, and probably all of them propagate by hardwood cuttings, although layering may be easier with some species. Even species that are tender in any locality often make very attractive new growths each year if the roots are not injured. Attention must be given to fungous diseases.
In southern California and other southern parts, a number of evergreen species now attain more or less prominence, particularly "the evergreen grape-vine" or V. capensis. These plants are mostly species of Cissus (which see, page 775), which is separated from Vitis by the mostly four-merous flowers with separate expanding petals and different disk, the plants often fleshy and sometimes erect rather than climbing. The evergreen set in cultivation more or less prominently in this country comprises Cissus antarctica (V. Baudiniana), page 776; C. capensis (V. capensis); C. gongylodes (V. pterophora), page 776; C. hypoglauca (V. hypoglauca); C. oblonga (V. oblonga); C. quadrangularis (V. quadrangularis); C. rhombifolia (V. rhombifolia); Vitis Romanetii (V. rutilans); Cissus striata (V. sempervirens), page 776. The standard English authorities combine Cissus and Vitis, but continental as well as American authors incline to keep them distinct. Several of the species properly referred to Cissus are described in the present account (Nos. 1-5), not having found their place regularly under Cissus in Vol. II.
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