308 Mr. J. Miers on the Menispermaceae. 



stamens, instead of six, which opinion is sanctioned by the au- 

 thors of the new ' Genera Plantaruni ' in saying " vix satis a 

 Cocculo difFert." Such an opinion must have been formed with- 

 out their having examined the plants with sufficient attention. 

 The general habit of Menispei-mum, its many-lobed, cordate, 

 peltate (not palate) leaves, the form of its petals, and the variable 

 number of its floral parts are quite at variance with Cocculus ; and 

 at the same time there is so wide a difference in the organization 

 of its putamen and seed that the two genera cannot even remain 

 in the same tribe. In Menispermum the very compressed puta- 

 men has a condyle in the form of two very thin, reniform, and 

 closely parallel plates, round the edge of which the narrow and 

 nearly annular cell is circumfluent, and this is externally marked 

 by one dorsal and two lateral prominent terete rings, finely cre- 

 nated across, and leaving corresponding impressions inside the 

 cell : the albumen, which fills the cell, is therefore in the form 

 of a narrow tricarinated ring; and it contains an almost filiform 

 embryo, in which the slender cotyledons are about the length of 

 the radicle, and not broader than it. In Cocculus, on the other 

 hand, the putamen is much more globular, has no prominent 

 lateral ridges, and only a small smooth dorsal carina ; the con- 

 dyle forms a large thick bony mass, round which the nearly an- 

 nular broad cell, flattened on the ventral side, is circumscribed ; 

 and it is divided by a septum into two lateral chambers, each 

 having an external aperture : the seed has the cyclical shape of 

 the cell, and its embryo, imbedded in albumen, is formed of two 

 transversely broad, foliaceous, incumbent cotyledons, of twice 

 the length and four times the breadth of the terete radicle. 

 Under such opposite conditions of structure, it is difficult to 

 conceive how the idea of a close approximation of the two genera 

 could have been entertained. The validity of Menispermum as 

 a very distinct genus is unquestionable : as now restricted, it 

 has been well defined by Prof. Asa Gray ; but it is desirable to 

 amplify its diagnosis in the following manner : — 



Menispermum, Tournef., Linn. — Flares dioici. Masc. Sepala G 

 (interdum abortu 4), biserialia, exteriora minora, spathulato- 

 oblonga, membranacea, concava, sestivatione imbricata. Pe- 

 tala numero varia, 6-9, obovata, unguiculata, concava, apice 

 subcueullata, lateribus supra medium auriculatis et involutis. 

 Stamina 12-18, interdum 24, centro pluriserialiter affixa : 

 filamenta compresso-teretia; antherce ovatse, basifixse, filaniento 

 latiores, 2-lob88, lobis adnatis, margine longitudinaliter dehis- 

 centibus. — Fmn. Sepala et petala ut in masc, sed latiora et 

 breviora. Stamina sterilia tot quot petala, et iis opposita, 

 apice 2.glandulosa, imo gynsecii affixa. Ovaria 3, gibba. 



