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The genus Vitis was formed and named by Tournefort,[113] a French botanist, more than two hundred years ago. In his work, Institutiones Rei Herbariae, published in Paris in 1700, he gives the following description of this genus:

“The Vitis is a genus of plant with a (A) flower shaped like a rose, with many petals placed uniformly in a circle, out of the middle of which arises the pistil (B), with stamens pressed together (C), the flower (D,E,F) folds upward; the pistil develops into an edible berry (E), fleshy, full of juice, and usually with four seeds (H,I), the seeds are pear-shaped (K).”

The capital letters in the parentheses refer to illustrations. These indicate that Tournefort had a very clear conception of the flowering parts of a grape. He gives twenty-one species under this genus of which nine are American, one, however, being our Virginia creeper. Tournefort’s work is all very indefinite; others of the species than those credited to America may be American, and it is quite possible that of the nine some would not be classed among the grapes to-day. Each species is credited to some previous botanist and it is evident that Tournefort was a compiler rather than an original worker with grapes.

The next botanist who contributed to our knowledge of this genus was Linnaeus, the great Swedish systematist, who, in his Genera Plantarum, 1754, gives the following description of the flower (Like Tournefort’s, Linnaeus’ book is written in Latin and the extracts here given are free translations):

“Calyx. Five-toothed, small.

“Corolla. Petals five, rudimentary, small, caducous.

“Stamens. Filaments five, subulate, erect, spreading, caducous, anthers simple.

“Pistil. Ovary egg-shaped, style none, stigma obtuse headed.

“Pericarp. Berry nearly round, large, one cell.

“Seeds. Five, plump, terminate cordate, base contracted, partially divided into two cells.”

Linnaeus in his Species Plantarum of 1753, gives seven species as belonging to this genus, three of which are credited to America. One, however, Vitis arborea, is not classed among the grapes by present-day botanists.

Marshall,[114] the first American botanist we have to consider, for neither Tournefort nor Linnaeus had ever been on this continent, in his Arbustrum Americanum, 1785, describes the genus Vitis in terms so nearly identical with those of Linnaeus as to lead one to suspect that it is merely a translation from the Genera Plantarum. Marshall gives five species. One of these is certainly not a grape and one other is indeterminate.

Thomas Walter,[115] in his Flora Caroliniana, 1788, gives a brief description of the genus very similar to the foregoing but he also speaks of the masculine and feminine forms of the flowers, a point that does not seem to have been noticed by any botanist of an earlier date. He speaks of the corolla adhering at the top and coming off as a cap, one of the distinguishing characters of Vitis. This latter point had, however, been noted by Tournefort, and his figures show that this is what he means when he speaks of the flower as folding upward. Tournefort, however, seems to have been under the mistaken impression that Ampelopsis (Ampelopsis quinquifolia Michx. is our common American form) opens its flowers in the same way, as he includes this under Vitis. Walter gives only three species and his descriptions of these are very brief.

The first European botanist who made an extensive study of American plants in their habitats was André Michaux, a French botanist who traveled extensively in North America at about the close of the eighteenth century. In his Flora Boreali-Americana, which was published in 1803, he gives a brief generic description of Vitis which includes all of the essential characters given by Walter. He also questions the male and female characters mentioned by Walter.[116] Michaux mentions five species of the American grapes. His descriptions are clear and every species described can readily be recognized so that there is no question among botanists as to what species was meant in any instance.

An interesting contribution to our knowledge of the grapes of North America is that of William Bartram.[117] Bartram’s opportunities for becoming familiar with these plants were probably greater than those of any other person of his day, he being a resident of America, and his father having been a botanist, so that he was trained from childhood to observe plants. The following is an extract from an article of Bartram’s in the Domestic Encyclopedia, 1804:

“The most obvious characters which distinguish the grape vines of America from those of the old continent are: 1. The berries of all the American species and varieties that I have seen, approach the figure of an oblate spheroid; that is, the poles are flattened, and the transverse diameter is longer than the polar: however, I have observed that Alexander’s grape, and some of the bul or bullet grapes, approach nearer to an oval or ellipsis which is the figure of all foreign or European grapes that I have seen; viz. a prolate spheroid. 2. Most of the American species and varieties have a glaucous and yellowish pubescence on the under surface of their leaves. 3. All that I have observed in the northern and eastern districts of the United States are polygamous; i. e. those vines which bear fruit (female) have hermaphrodite flowers (pentandria monogynia); but the males have only five stamina, without any female organ, and are always barren. One should suppose, from Walter so strongly marking this character as to induce him to place the Vitis in the class Dioecia, when Linnaeus and the other European botanists had placed it in Pentandria (he himself being an European), that all the grape vines of the old continent are hermaphroditous and Pentandrian. I know not from my own observation, whether the bull-grape of Carolina is hermaphroditous or dioecious, and therefore rest satisfied with Walter’s assertion.” Bartram gives four species.

Nuttall,[118] in his Genera of North American Plants and Catalogue of the Species, gives a rather stereotyped description of the genus but in addition in fine type he gives the following:

“Leaf simple and cordate, angularly or sinuately lobed, rarely digitate or pinnate (Cissus?), flowers numerous, in compound racemes, not uncommonly producing 4, 6 and 7 petals, with a corresponding number of stamens, calix mostly entire, or obsoletely crenate, a glandulous disk surrounding the germ; tendril dichotomous, sometimes producing flowers, therefore analogous to a sterile raceme.”

It is evident that Nuttall was in doubt as to the distinguishing characters between Vitis and the allied genus, Cissus. While he has the species of the two genera in the same position they would now be placed, his reference to pinnate-leaved species is somewhat misleading as no pinnate-leaved species are known to-day in either Europe or America. He uses, however, the distinguishing character between these two genera that we now accept, that is, Vitis has petals that adhere at the tops and come off in the form of a cap or calyptrum, while in Cissus the corolla does not fall off as a cap. Nuttall mentions six species as belonging to this genus: Vitis labrusca, V. aestivalis, V. cordifolia, V. riparia, V. rotundifolia, and V. palmata, with a question mark after the last species. None is described. His work is apparently a discriminating compilation of the work of earlier botanists.

Many other botanical workers wrote on this genus during the period covered and some of them did very valuable work in describing the various species but their work has not been referred to because it did not add to the knowledge of the genus as a whole.

The first man to write a monograph on American grapes was Rafinesque,[119] who published in 1830 a paper bound volume entitled American Manual of the Grape Vine, etc. Rafinesque, who was long a resident of the United States, had an opportunity to acquire knowledge on the subject upon which he wrote second to none other. His description of the genus is similar to that of his predecessors and very good; but here all similarity ends and practically all value. After having made forty-one species, the greater portion of which have names given by himself, he says: “By the above enumeration of our Grapes I have done for this genus what Michaux did for our Oaks. Owing to the great confusion of former authors, and the difficulty of comparing the leaves and fruits of all the species, it is hardly as perfect as I should wish. Rigid botanists may perhaps wish to reduce this species to a minor number or consider some as hybrids: if they can find good permanent collective characters, let them reduce our Grapes and Oaks to a dozen species. But the angular or striated branches, the long or short petioles, the oval, cordate or reniform leaves, etc., must always be deemed essential specific characters, and several of my new species, such as V. bracteata, V. angulata, V. peltata, V. canina, V. blanda, V. longifolia, V. acerifolia, V. amara, V. prolifera, etc., must be deemed very distinct.” None of those of which he says “must be deemed essential specific characters” is now so considered and the species which must be “deemed very distinct” are many of them unrecognized and none of them known by the name which he gave.

Le Conte, about the middle of the last century, did much work in the botany of grapes, publishing several papers in the Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. These were in the nature of monographs although they were not, so far as known, published separately. He gives twelve species generally taken from other authors.

A little later than Le Conte, Engelmann of St. Louis, gave his attention to the genus Vitis, clearing up a number of disputed points. His work was published in various reports and later in the Bushberg Catalogue and Grape Manual. Engelmann’s studies are particularly valuable in that he was the first botanist working with grapes who lived in the middle west and the territory over which he ranged in his botanical expeditions was comparatively virgin. This was about the time of the reconstitution of the French vineyards by the use of American roots as stocks on which to graft their French vines to enable them to resist phylloxera. Many thousand cuttings and rooted vines of American grapes were sent to France annually for this purpose. The value of grafting on resistant stocks had stimulated an interest among French scientists in grapes generally and particularly in the American species. While their aid in separating species was but slight, owing to their distance from the field where the plants were growing, yet the investigations of Planchon, Millardet, and others as to the comparative value of various characters in separating species, were of great importance. These investigations were utilized by Engelmann to a considerable extent. Owing to its simplicity, and somewhat perhaps to the place of publication, his work obtained favor among grape-growers to a greater extent than that of any of his predecessors. In his earlier writings he gives six species but in the last edition of the Bushberg Catalogue thirteen are enumerated.