POPULAR FLORA. 



119 



4. MOONSEED FAMILY. Order MENISPERMACEiE. 



Woody climbers, with alternate leaves and small dioecious flowers (as shown in Fig. 167, 

 168) ; the sepals and petals each 4 or 6 and both of the same color, and a few one-seeded 

 pistils, becoming small drupes in fruit, with a moon-shaped or kidney-shaped stone. We 

 liave two genera of one snecies each, the first common at the North, the second at the 

 South. 



1. Stamens 12 to 20 : pistils 2 to 4. Flowers white : leaves rounded and angled shield-shaped. Fruit 



bhie-bhick, (Menispcrmum) JIoonseed. 



2. Stamens 6, one before each petal. Flowers greenish : leaves heart-shaped. {Cocculus) Cocculus. 



5. BARBERRY FAMILY. Order BEEBEEIDACE^. 



Readily distinguished (with a single exception) by having the sepals and petals in fours, 

 sixes, or eights (not in fives), 

 and with just the same number 

 of stamens as petals, one before 

 each 2>ctal (on the receptacle), 

 the anthers opening by an 

 uplifted valve or door on each 

 side. Pistil only one. Harm- 

 less, except the May- Apple (also 

 called Mandrake), which has 

 rather poisonous roots, although 

 the fruit is innocent and eata- 

 ble. Having only one species 

 of each genus, we may ascertain 

 them by the following key : — 



265. Shoal ; 266. cluster of leaves ami raceme 

 Bpreaii open \ !t68. a petal more mao;nified 



267. enlarged fimver 

 and, 269. a stamen, 

 viih the anther opening, of the common Barberry. 



Shrubs with yellow bark and wood, and yellow flowers. Stamens and petals 6. 

 Leaves appearing simple, in a cluster above a branching thorn, which is 



an altered leaf of the year before. Berries red, (Berberis) Baebekky. 



Leaves scattered, pinnate, evergreen : no thorns. Berries blue, {Mahonia) * Mahonia. 



Herbs, with perennial roots, all with compound or deeply lobed leaves. 



Flowers yellowish-green, small. Stamens and petals 6. Leaves decompound, from 



the root and also at the top of the stem, ( Caulajyliyllum) Cohosh. 



