18 MENISPERMACE^E. (MOONSEED FAMILY.) 



4. MENISPERMACE^E. (MOONSEED FAMILY.) 



Woody climbers, with palmate or peltate alternate leaves, no stipules ; the 

 sepals and petals similar, in three or more rows, imbricated in the bud; hypo- 

 gynous, dioecious, 3-6-gynous; fruit a 1-seeded drupe, with a large or long 

 curved embryo in scanty albumen. Flowers small. Stamens several. 

 Ovaries nearly straight, with the stigma at the apex, but often incurved 

 in fruiting, so that the seed and embryo are bent into a crescent or ring. 

 Properties bitter-tonic and narcotic. Chiefly a tropical family: there are 

 only three species, belonging to as many genera, in the United States. 



Synopsis. 



1 COCCULUS. Stamens, petals, and sepals each 6. Anthers 4-celled. 



2. MENISPERMUM. Stamens 12-24, slender. Petals 6 -8. Sepals 4-8. Anthers 4-celled. 

 8. CALYCOCARPUM. Stamens in the sterile flowers 12, short ; in the fertile flowers 6, abor 

 tive. Petals none. Anthers 2-celled. 



1. COCCUS US, DC. CoccuLir*, 



Sepals, petals, and stamens 6, the two latter short. Anthers 4-celled. Pistils 

 3 - 6 in the fertile flowers : style pointed. Drupe and seed as in Moonseed. 

 Cotyledons narrowly linear and flat. Flowers in axillary racemes or panicles. 

 \An old name, from coccum, a berry.) 



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

 ovate or cordate, entire or sinuate-lobed, variable in shape ; flowers greenish 

 the petals in the sterile ones auricula te-inflexed below around the filaments 

 drupe red (as large as a small pea). River-banks, S. Illinois, Virginia, and 

 southward. July. 



2. MENISPERMUM, L. MOONSEED. 



Sepals 4-8. Petals 6-8, short. Stamens 12-20 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 growth after flowering being 

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

 (putamen) takes the form of a large crescent or a ring. The slender embryo 

 therefore is horseshoe-shaped : cotyledons filiform. Flowers white, in axillary 

 panicles. (Name from p.r)i>r), moon, and <rirepp.a, seed.) 



1. Itt. Canadensc, L. (CANADIAN MOONSEED.) Leaves peltate near 

 the edge, 3 - 7-angled or lobed. Banks of streams ; common. June, July. 

 Drupes black with a bloom, ripe in September, looking like frost grapes. 



3. CAL.YCOCARPUM, Nutt. CUPSEED. 



Sepals 6. Petals none. Stamens 12 in the sterile flowers, short : anthers 

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

 Drupe not incurved ; but the thin crustaceous putamen hollowed out like a cup 



