MENISPEUMACICyE. (MOONSEEI) FAMILY.) 51 



young shoots and cxpandinfij leaves clothed with a nist\- down, soon plahrous. 

 Flowers appearing with the leaves, I}/ wide. Fruits 3' -4' long, yellowish, 

 sweet and edihle in autumn. 



A. PARViFLOKA, a sniallor-flowcrc'd and sniall-fruitcd low species, probahly 

 docs not grow so far north as Virginia. 



Order 4. MEIVISPEKx^IACE.i:. (Moonseed Family.) 



Wood// climbers, ivilh palmate or peltate alternate leaves, no stipules ; the 

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

 pogynous, dioecious, 3 -6-gynous ; fruit a l-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. 



1. Cocciilus. Stamens, petals, anil sepals each 6. Anthers 4-celIed. 



2. Meiiispermuin. Stamens 12-21, slender. Petals 6-S. Anthers 4-celled. 



3. Calycocarpuni. Stamens in the sterile flowers 12; in the fertile flowers 6, abortive. 



Petals none. Anthers 2-ceIled. 



1. COCCULUS, DC. CoccuLua. 



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

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

 Cotyledons narrowly linear and flat. — Flowers in axillarv racemes or panicles 

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



1. C. Carolinus, DC. Minutely pubescent ; leaves downy benea-. 

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

 the petals in the- sterile ones auriculatc-iuflcxed below around the filaments, 

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

 southward. July, Aug. 



2. MENISPEEMUM, L. Moonseed. 



Sepals 4 -8. Petals 6 - 8, short. Stamens 12-20 m the sterile flowers, as 

 long as the sepals : anthers 4-eelled. 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 orowtli 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 ^r)vr}, vioon, and airep^ia, seed.) 



1. M. Canad6nse, L. (Cwaplvn Moonseed.) Leaves peltate near 

 the edge, 3-7-anL:]ed or lubed. — Banks of streams; common. June, July. 

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



