MENISPERMACE^. (MOONSEED FAMILY.) 51 



Order 4. MENISPERMACE^E. (Mooxseed F/.mily.) 



Woody climbers, icith palmate or peltate alternate leaves, no stipules, the 

 sepals and petals similar, in three or more rows, imbricated in the bud ; h/j- 

 pof/f/nous, dicecious, S-6-gijnous : fruit a 1-seeded drupe, with a large or 

 long curved einbrgo in scanty albumen. — Flowers small. Stamens sev- 

 eral. Ovaries nearly straight, with the stigma at the apex, but often 

 incurved in fruiting:, so that the seed and embryo are bent into a ores- 

 cent or ring. — Chiefly a tropical family. 



* Sepals and petals present. Anthers 4-celled. Seed incurved. 



1. Cocculus. Stamens, petals, and sepals each 6. 



2. Menispermum. Stamens 12- 24, slender. Petals 6 -8. 



* * Petals none. Anthers 2-celled. Seed saucer-shaped. 

 H. Calycocarpum. Stamens in the sterile flowers 12 ; in the fertile flowers 6, abortive. 



1. COCCULUS, DC. 



Sepals, petals, and stamens 6, alternating iu threes, the two latter short. 

 Anthers 4-celle(l. Pistils 3-6 in the fertile flowers; style pointed. Drupe 

 and seed as in Menispermum. — Flowers in axillary racemes or panicles. (An 

 old name, a diminutive of coccus, kokkos, a berry.) 



1. C. Carolinus, DC. Minutely pubescent; leaves downy beneath, 

 ovate or cordate, entire or sinuately or hastately lobed, variable in shape ; 

 flowers greenish, the petals in the sterile ones auriculate-inflexed below around 

 the filaments; drupe red (as large as a small pea). — River-banks, Va. to S. 

 111., Kan., and southward. July, Aug. 



2. MENISPERMUM, L. Moonseed. 



Sepals 4-8. Petals 6-8, short. Stamens 12-24 in the sterile flowers, as 

 long as the sepals; anthers 4-celled. Pistils 2-4 in the fertile flowers, raised 

 on a short common receptacle ; stigma broad and flat. Drupe globular, the 

 mark of the stigma near the base, the ovary in its gro\\1;h after flowering being 

 strongly incurved, so that the (wrinkled and grooved) laterally flattened stone 

 takes the form of a large crescent or ring. The slender embryo therefore 

 is horseshoe-shaped; cotyledons filiform. — Flowers Avhite, in small and loose 

 axillary jjanicles. (Name from fi-nur}, moon, and (nrfp/xa, seed.) 



1. M. Canaddnse, L. Leaves peltate near the edge, -S-T-angled or 

 lobed. — Banks of streams; common. June, July. — Drupes black with a 

 bloom, ripe in September, looking like frost grapes. 



3. CALYCOCARPUM, Nutt. Cupseed. 



Sepals 6, petaloid. Petals none. Stamens 12 iu the sterile flowers, short; 

 anthers 2-celled. Pistils 3, spindle-shaped, tipped with a radiate many-cleft 

 stigma. Drupe globular ; the thin crustaceous putamen hollowed out like a 

 cup on one side. Embryo hdiaceous, heart-shaped. — Flowers greenish-white, 

 iu long racemose panicles. (Xame from «:aAu|, a cup, and Kapiros, fruit.) 



1. C. Ly6ni, Xutt. Leaves large, thin, deeply 3-. 5-lobed, cordate at the 

 base; the lobes acuminate; drupe an inch long, black when ripe, the shell 



