POPULAR FLORA. 



119 



4. MOONSEED FAMILY. Order MENISPERMACE^E. 



"Woody climbers, with alternate leaves and small dioecious flowers (as shown in Fig. 1G7, 

 1G8) ; the sepals and petals each 4 or 6 and both of the same color, and a few one-seeded 

 pistils, becoming small drupes in fruit, with a moon-shaped or kidney-shaped stone. "We 

 liave two f^enera of one soecies each, the first common at the North, the second at tho 

 South. 



1. Stamens 12 to 20 : pistils 2 to 4. Flowers white : leaves rounded and angled shield-shnped. Fruit 



blue-black, ( Menispermum) Moonseed. 



2. Stamens 6, one before each petal. Flowers greenish: leaves heart-shaped. {Cocculus) CoccuLus. 



5. BAHBERRY FAMILY. Order BERBERIDACE.E. 



Readily distinguished (Avith a single exception) by having the sepals and petals in 

 sixes, or eights (not in fives), 

 and with just the same number 

 of stamens as petals, one before 

 each petal (on the receptacle), 

 the anthers opening by an 

 uplifted valve or door on each 

 side. Pistil only one. Harm- 

 less, except the May- Apple (also 

 called Mandrake), which has 

 rather poisonous roots, although 

 the fruit is innocent and eata- 

 ble. Having only one species 

 of each genus, we may ascertain 

 them by the following key : — 



fours, 



*65. Shooi ; 266. cluster of leaves nnd raceme 

 spread open ; !c63. a petal moie rna^'iutieil 



267. enlarged flower 

 and, ^69. a stumeu, 



with the anther openiug', of the common Barberry 



Shrubs with yellow bark and wood, and yellow flowers. Stamens and petals 6.  j^ 

 Leaves appearing simple, in a cluster above, a branching thorn, which is 265 



an altered leaf of the year before. Berries red, (Berberis) Barberry. 



Leaves scattered, pinnate, evergreen: no thorns. Berries blue, {Mahonia) * Maiioxia;; 



Herbs, with perennial roots, all with compound or deeply lobed leaves. 



Flowers yellowish-green, small. Stamens and petals 6. Leaves decompound, from 



the root and also at the top of the stem, ( Caulojjhylhim) Cohosh. 



