524 WOODY PLANTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



This, which gives an air of wildness and retirement perfectly- 

 suited to the purpose for which much of this suburb is used, has 

 in several places been made to give place to the stiff, pudding- 

 stone wall ; — and the change is called improvement* 



If the suckers and lower branches are removed, and only the 

 upper branches allowed to grow, the barberry forms a very 

 beautiful little tree, and sometimes shoots to the height of ten 

 feet. At times we find such a tree by the road-sides, surprising 

 us by its gracefulness and the beauty of its bright yellow flow- 

 ers in June,- and of its rich scarlet berries and its fading orange- 

 scarlet leaves in autumn. 



FAMILY XXXIX. THE MOONSEED FAMILY. MENISPER- 



MA y CEJE. Jussieu. 



A family of about one hundred species mostly of twining 

 shrubs, belonging almost entirely to the torrid zone ; with sim- 

 ple, rarely compound, palmately veined leaves without stipules ; 

 and minute flowers in panicles or racemes. Male and female 

 usually on separate plants ; sepals 3 to 12, in one, two, or three 

 rows, deciduous ; petals half as many or as many as the sepals 

 and opposite them, sometimes united, rarely wanting ; stamens 

 as many as the petals and opposite them or two to four times as 

 many, distinct or united, anthers 1-, 2- or 4-celled ; ovaries 1 or 

 more, 1-celled. The fruit is a 1 -seeded, lunate drupe, contain- 

 ing a bony nut, with the embryo usually curved. 



Many of the species are remarkable for their astringent and 

 tonic properties, which render them valuable remedies in fever 

 and in dysentery. One of the most important of these is Co- 

 lombo root, from the Cbcculus palmatus, a native of Mozam- 

 bique. The seeds of other species are narcotic, like C. Indicus, 

 used to poison or intoxicate fishes ; while the fruits of others 

 are eatable. 



