454 CABOMBACEAE 



2. CEBATHA Forsk. 

 Perennial climbing plants, with slender twining stems. Leaves alternate : blades 

 thickish, entire or angularly lobed, petioled, not peltate. Flowers dioecious or polygam- 

 ous, in axillary cymes or panicles. Sepals 6, in 2 series, the inner ones larger than the outer. 

 Petals 6, in 2 series, smaller than the inner sepals, entire or cleft, concave or inrolled. 

 Stamens 6, more or less reduced or wanting in the pistillate flowers : filaments distinct : 

 anthers 4-celled. Cai'pels 3-6. Ovary 1-celled : style or stigma subulate, entire. Ovule 

 solitary in each cavity. Drupes somewhat flattened, with a more or less reniform or horse- 

 shoe-shaped stone. Seed shaped like the stone. Embryo curved with flat narrow cotyledons. 

 [ Cocculus DC. ] Coral-bead. 



Foliage glabrate or merely puberulent : petioles much shorter than the leaf-blades:. 1. C. diversifolia.- 

 Foliage tomentose : petioles nearly as long as the leaf-blades. 2. C. Carolina. 



1. Cebatha diverslfolia ( DC. ) Kuntze. A glabrous or almost glabrous vine, with 

 elongated stems. Leaf-blades leathery, varying from almost linear to oblong-ovate or ovate, 

 acute or obtuse, more or less revolute, rounded or subcordate at the base ; petioles much 

 shorter than the blades : flowers yellowish ; staminate in leafy racemes ; pistillate in naked 

 racemes : sepals eroded, the 3 outer ovate, 1 mm. long, the 3 inner broadly ovate, 2 mm. 

 long : petals ovate-oblong, about 1 mm. long : drupe apparently purple, 6-7 mm. long. 

 {^Cocculus diver sifoUus DC] 



In dry soil, Texas and Arizona to Mexico. Summer. 



2. Cebatha Carolina (L. ) Britton. A vine, with trailing or climbing stems 0.5-3 m. 

 long. Leaf-blades broadly-ovate or deltoid, 4-12 cm. long, entire or 3-5-lobed, tomentose 

 beneath, deep green and glabrate above, rounded or cordate at the base ; petioles slender, 

 somewhat shorter than the blades : flowers white ; staminate in compound racemes ; pistil- 

 late in simple racemes : sepals 6, eroded, the 3 outer nearly oblong, 1 mm. long, tlie 3 inner 

 oval, 2 mm. long : petals 1 mm. long, eroded at the apex, auricled at the base : drupe red, 

 7-8 mm. broad. [Cocculus Carolmus (L. ) DC] 



In woods, fields and thickets, Virginia to Kansas, Florida and Texas. Summer. 



3. MENISPERMUM L. 



Perennial slender twining vines, woody below, herbaceous above. Leaves alternate : 

 blades membranous, peltate, often palmately lobed, petioled. Flowers dioecious, white, in 

 axillary panicles. Sepals 4-8, in 2 series. Petals 4-8, in 2 series, shorter than the sepals. 

 Stamens 12-24, or reduced to 6 staminodia in the pistillate flowers : filaments distinct : 

 anthers 4-celled. Carpels 2-4. Ovary 1-celled, sessile : stigma dilated. Ovule solitary. 

 Drupe somewhat flattened, with a broadly reniform crested stone. Seed horseshoe-shaped. 

 Embryo curved, with narrow cotyledons. Moox-seed. 



1. Menispermum Canad^nse L. A finely pubescent vine, with twining stems 1-4 m. 

 long. Leaf-blades orbicular to reniform in outline, 5-20 cm. broad, entire or 3-7-lobod, 

 subcordate or cordate at the base, peltate near the base, glabrate above, the lobes rounded 

 or short-acuminate ; petioles slightly shorter than the blades : flowers greenish white, in 

 panicles: sepals oblong to oval, 1.5 mm. long: petals clawed, somewhat fan-shaped, the 

 edges of the blade involute : stamens twice as long as the sepals : fruiting panicle resem- 

 bling a bunch of grapes : drupes bluish black, 1 cm. in diameter. 



In thickets and along fences, Quebec to Manitoba, Georgia and the Indian Territory. Summer. 



Family 6. CABOMBACEAE A. Gray. Water-shield Family, 



•Perennial aquatic caulescent herbs, with the foliage often mucilage-coated. 

 Leaves alternate, opposite or whorled : blades various, those of submerged 

 leaves often dissected, those of floating leaves peltate. Flowers perfect, incon- 

 spicuous. Perianth of 2 whorls. Sepals and petals 3 or rarely 4 each, per- 

 sistent, Androecium of 3-18 hypogynous stamens. Filaments slender. Anthers 

 usually extrorse, Gynoecium of 2-18 distinct carpels. Disk wanting. Ovary 

 1-celled, Stigma sessile or nearly so, blunt. Ovules 2, on the sides of the 

 cavity or the dorsal suture, or wheu 3, one near the ventral suture. Fruit several 

 indehiscent nut like carpels. Seeds 1-3, often 2, Embryo at the base of the 

 fleshy endosperm. 



