384 



ILLrSTUATIONS OF THE NATURAL ORDERS. 



often curved into a ring ; in fruit becoming berries or drupes. Seeds 

 solitary, filling the cavity of the bony endocarp : embryo large, 

 curved or coiled in the thin fleshy albumen. — Menispermum, or 

 Moonseed (Fig. 413, 414, 659 - 666), Cocculus. The roots are 

 bitter and tonic (e. g. Colombo Root of the materia medica) ; but the 

 fruit is often narcotic and acrid ; as, for instance, the Very poisonous 

 Cocculus Indicus of the shops, once used for rendering malt liquors 

 more intoxicating, and for stupefying fishes. 



747. Ord. BerberidacefE {Barberry Family). Herbs or shrubs, 

 with a Avatery juice ; the leaves alternate, compound or divided, usu- 

 ally Avithout stipules. Flowers perfect. Calyx of thi'ee to nine 

 sepals, imbricated in one to several rows, often colored. Petals as 



673 



674 



675 



676 



many as the sepals and in two sets, or twice as many, often with a 

 pore, spur, or glandular appendage at the base. Stamens equal in 



FIG. 668. A shoot of Berberis vulgaris, the common Barberry. 669. A flowering branch 

 from the axil of one of its leaves or spines, the following year. 670 An expanded flower. 

 671 A petal, nectariferous near the base. 672. A stamen ; the anther opening by uplifted 

 valves. 673. Cross-section of a 3-oung fruit. 674. Vertical section; the seeds attached at the 

 base. 675. Vertical section of a seed enlarged, showing the large embryo with foliaceous 

 cotyledons and a taper radicle, surrounded by albumen. 676. The embryo separate. 



