MENISPERMACE^E. (MOONSEED FAMILY.) 51 



ORDER 4. MENISPERMXCEJE. (MOONSEED FAMILY.) 



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

 xepals and petals similar, in three or more rows, imbricated in the bud ; hy- 

 pogynous, dicecious, 3 -Q-gy nous ; fruit a l-seeded drupe, with a large or 

 long curved embryo 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 cres- 

 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. 



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



1. COCCULUS, DC. 



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

 Anthers 4-celled. 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 growth 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 white, in small and loose 

 axillary panicles. (Name from /-^rj, moon, and oWpjua, seed.) 



1. M. Canad6nse, L. 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. CALYCOCARPUM, Nutt. CUPSEED. 



Sepals 6, petaloid. Petals none. Stamens 12 in 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 f oliaceous, heart-shaped. Flowers greenish-white, 

 in long racemose panicles. (Name from KO,\V, a cup, and Kapiros, fruit.) 



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

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



