MENISPERMACEAE 77 



Although principally tropical, the moonseed family is rep- 

 resented in Illinois by three species, belonging to three genera, 

 each of them at times woody and all vines. 



Key to the Genera 



Flowers with both sepals and petals, anthers 4-ceIled, seeds in 

 the shape of a large crescent or ring. 

 Parts of the flower, i.e., stamens, petals and sepals, 



6 each Cocculus, p. 77 



Parts of the flower variable in number; sepals 4 to 8, petals 



6 to 8, and stamens 12 to 24 Menispermum, p. 78 



Flowers without petals, anthers 2-celled, seeds hollowed so as 



to be saucer-like Calycocarpum, p. 80 



COCCULUS De Candolle 

 Coral Bead Moonseed Littleberry Vine 



The coral beads are slender, twining vines, perennial and oc- 

 casionally woody, that bear alternate, petioled leaves, which 

 are ovate or cordate and entire or lobed but not peltate. The 

 flowers are usually dioecious but may be polygamous and occur 

 in axillary cymes or panicles. Both sepals and petals are in two 

 series, and the flowers contain 6 stamens, which are more or 

 less reduced in the pistillate flowers, or 3 to 6 pistils. The fruit 

 is a somewhat flattened drupe, which contains a reniform or 

 horseshoe-shaped stone. 



The coral beads, otherwise Asiatic and African, are repre- 

 sented in North America by the single species described below. 



COCCULUS CAROLINUS (Linnaeus) De Candolle 

 Carolina Moonseed Coral Bead 



The Carolina Moonseed, fig. 15, is a slender, twining vine 

 with stems up to 25 feet long, from which alternate, more or 

 less 3-pointed leaves arise on long petioles. The leaves are 

 broadly ovate or deltoid, cordate at the base, palmately 3- or 

 5-veined, sometimes 5-lobed, and 2 to 4 inches long. Mainly 

 they are glabrous above but densely pubescent beneath. The 

 slender petioles are 1 to 4 inches long. The small staminate 

 flowers arise in axillary and terminal panicles, 1 to 5 inches long, 

 that are loose but not drooping. The pistillate flowers, other- 

 wise similar to the staminate ones, occur in simple racemes. 

 Both kinds have sepals and petals that are rough, or erose, at 



