Narrative
Type = Rotundifolia. Per Hedrick (see citation): "Vine variable in vigor, usually very vigorous, climbing high, sometimes, when without support, shrubby and only three or four feet high; when growing in the shade often sending down aerial roots. Wood hard, bark smooth, not scaling off except in old age, with prominent warty lenticels; shoots short-jointed, angled, with fine scurfy pubescence; diaphragms absent; tendrils intermittent, simple. Leaves below medium in size, broadly cordate or roundish; petiolar sinus rather wide, usually shallow; margin with obtuse, wide teeth; not lobed; dense in texture, rather light green color, glabrous above, glabrous or sometimes pubescent along veins below. Cluster small (6-24 berries), loose; peduncle short; pedicels short, rather thick. Berries large, globular or somewhat oblate, black or greenish-yellow; skin usually thick, tough, and with a musky odor; pulp rather tough; ripening unevenly and dropping as soon as ripe. Seeds two to four, very large to medium, shaped something like a coffee-berry, somewhat flattened, shallowly and broadly notched; beak very short; chalaza rather narrow, slightly depressed with radiating ridges and furrows; raphe a narrow groove. Leafing, flowering and ripening very late. The habitat of this species is southern Delaware, west through Tennessee, southern Illinois, southeastern Missouri, Arkansas (except the northwestern portions), to Grayson County, Texas, as a northern and western boundaryry, to the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf on the east and south. It becomes rare as one approaches the western limit but is common in many sections of the great region named above, being most abundant on sandy, well-drained bottom lands and along river banks and in swamps, thick woodlands and thickets. [...] The climate most suitable for Rotundifolia is that in which cotton grows and it thrives best in the lower portions of the cotton belt of the United States. On account of the late ripening of the fruit it requires a long season. Vines of Rotundifolia have been known to withstand a winter temperature as low as 12 degrees below zero, but under ordinary conditions this would undoubtedly be much too severe for most Rotundifolias. They do not suffer from the effects of hot summers but will not withstand drought and are not well adapted to semi-arid conditions. All growers of varieties of this species agree that it does best on light sandy or alluvial soils; and while it may grow on rather heavy clays, if all other conditions are favorable, its vigor will be lessened. [...] Rotundifolia is remarkably resistant to the attacks of all insects and to fungal diseases. The phylloxera do not attack its roots and it is considered as resistant as any other, if not the most resistant of all American species. It is grown from cuttings only with difficulty. However, under favorable circumstances and with skilful handling, this is a successful method of propagation."