_Vitis rubra_ and Vahl's _Vitis palmata_ are badly confused. The species was first described by Vahl in 1794, from plants cultivated in the Jardin des Plantes in Paris and supposed to have been sent by some missionary from the Mississippi Valley. It was so named on account of its tendency to five-lobed leaves. Vahl erroneously gives its habitat as Virginia. About the same time, Michaux discovered, on the banks of the Mississippi and adjacent streams, a grape which he called _Vitis rubra_, on account of its characteristic bright red shoots. The descriptions of these two varieties were copied from time to time by other botanists, but with no additional details of any importance until Engelmann, in 1883, made the claim that they were identical. There is no question as to the identity of Michaux's Rubra, but some botanists question whether Palmata is a synonym. We have taken Michaux's name as the one to which there is no question, although Engelmann was so careful a worker that it is highly probable that he is correct in considering the two species synonymous. Munson considers the species as probably a multiple "hybrid of Cordifolia with Riparia, with possibly a trace of Cissus blood, indicated in the fruit, seed and leaf." There seems to be but little evidence to support this supposition. Planchon says it is principally on the evidence of Millardet that he admits this as a separate species and that perhaps it would be better to consider it a variety of Riparia closely allied to Vahl's Palmata. _Vitis rubra_ is an inhabitant of sandy, rich, moist, alluvial river bottoms in Missouri and Illinois, to Louisiana and Texas, in which region it is quite restricted and apparently not plentiful. But little is known of the horticultural characters of _Vitis rubra_. In spite of its having been classed with Riparia, it appears to resemble more closely _Vitis cordifolia_, having the thick diaphragms and late blooming characters of the latter species, but the seeds resemble those of Riparia. Rubra grows readily from cuttings and the roots are said to be very resistant to phylloxera. It is not sufficiently vigorous, however, to be recommended as a stock. It is sometimes cultivated as an ornamental but is of no horticultural importance beyond this. 10. =VITIS CORDIFOLIA= Michx.