but the fruits shown were gathered in November 1911, 
and it was no doubt owing to the great heat of that 
year that the crop was so fine. Even in ordinary 
seasons, however, the plant is well worthy of cultiva- 
tion; grown up stout limbs of oak set in the ground it 
makes an elegant climber, twining itself tightly round the 
smaller branches. This Cocculus was introduced to cultiva- 
tion from Japan by Professor Sargent, Arnold Arboretum, 
some twenty years ago. It is perfectly hardy. 
_ Description.—Shrub, climbing ; branches twining, softly 
hairy. Leaves petioled, ovate entire or at times 3-lobed 
with the mid-lobe much larger than the side lobes, obtuse or 
acute, apiculate, base rounded or cordate, 2-33 in. long, 
1{-22 in. wide, firmly herbaceous, palmately 5-nerved at 
the base, closely reticulate, puberulous above, more or less 
pubescent beneath ; petiole 3-11 in. long, soft hairy. Cymes 
1-sexual, solitary in the leaf axils or aggregated in a terminal 
bracteate thyrse; bracteoles paired, close to the base of the 
calyx, ovate oblong, very small. Male: Sepals 6, the 
outer 3 ovate, under 1 lin. long, the inner 3 wide ovate, 
1} lin. long. Petals 6, ligulate, 14 lin. long, 2-fid at the 
tip, the lobules subulate sometimes a second time 2-fid, their 
margins inflexed below. Stamens 6, opposite the petals; 
filaments incurved above; anthers horizontal, 4-lobed. 
female: Sepals as in male flowers, but shorter. Petals 
elliptic oblong, 2-fid with divergent lobes. Staminodes 6 
or fewer, very small; sometimes obsolete. Carpels 6, 
styles recurved; ovule in each carpel solitary, placentation 
ventral. Drupes 2-4 to each flower, subglobose, about } in. 
across, blue-black, pruinose, style adpressed, subbasal, 
ventral ; mesocarp green; endocarp hard, reniform with 
a small ventral sinus, prolonged into a large central 
condyle hollowed on each side into an auriculate cavity ; 
peripheral portion of the endocarp transversely ridged. 
Seed much curved ; albumen copious ; cotyledons incumbent. 
Fig. A, male inflorescence; B, female inflorescence; C, branch with fruits; 
Ne section of male flower; 2, stamen; 3, section of female flower; 4, staminode ; 
5, fruit; 6, endocarp, seen from one side; 7, section of endocarp and seed, 
showing albumen and embryo; 8, embryo :—the lettered Jigures of natural size, 
the others enlarged. 
