CLASSIFICATION OF ANGIOSPERMS. 539 



cious flowers. The fruit is a drupe and contains a characteristic 

 crescent-shaped seed. 



Menispermum canadense or Canada moonseed yields the drug 

 menispermum which was formerly official. It grows in the North- 

 ern United States and Canada and is a high-climbing vine with 

 broadly ovate, cordate and 3- to 7-lobed leaves (Fig. 180). The 

 flowers are in panicles giving rise to a characteristic cluster of 

 bluish-black berries. 



The rhizome occurs in pieces which are 5 to 7 dm. long and 

 2 to 5 mm. in diameter; externally it is longitudinally wrinkled, 

 of a yellowish-brown color and somewhat resembles Sarsaparilla. 

 In transverse section, however, it is very distinct (Fig. 194). The 

 drug has a bitter taste and contains a bitter alkaloid menispine, 

 berberine and starch. In addition it contains the alkaloid oxyacan- 

 thine which is also found in Berberis vulgaris of Europe and the 

 West Indies. 



Jateorhiza palmata yields the official drug calumba (columbo). 

 The plant is a herbaceous climber somewhat resembling Meni- 

 spermum, the leaves being more decidedly lobed. The flowers 

 form long racemes. 



Chondrodendron tomentosum, the source of the unofficial drug 

 pareira, is a high woody twiner. The leaves are large, petiolate, 

 broadly ovate or rounded, slightly cordate, and densely tomentose 

 on the lower surface. 



Anamirta paniculata is a woody climber of the East Indies. 

 The fruits, known as fishberries or COCCULUS, are used as a fish 

 poison by the natives and contain the neutral principle picrotoxin. 



Very many other plants of the Menispermaceae contain power- 

 ful toxic principles and are used as fish poisons and as antidotes 

 to snake poison. Several species of Abuta are used in the prepara- 

 tion of curare poison. 



e. MAGNOLIACE^E OR MAGNOLIA FAMILY. The 

 plants are mostly trees or shrubs and are represented in the 

 United States by the magnolias and tulip tree (Liriodendron 

 Tulipifera). The latter is a magnificent tree with characteristic 

 leaves (Fig. 204) and large, fragrant, orange-colored, tulip-like 

 flowers. 



The plants of this family contain a variety of constituents. 



