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. Carpels 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 diversifolia ( 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 re volute, 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 diversifolius 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, the 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 Carolinus (L. ) DC.] 



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



3. MENISPERMTJM 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. MOON-SEED. 



1. Menispermum Canadense 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 -lobed, 

 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 when 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. 



