434 FLORA. 



Family 7. MENISPERMACEAE DC. 



Moonseed Family. 



Vines with alternate entire or lobed leaves, no stipules, and small 

 dioecious panicled racemose or cymose flowers. Sepals 4-12. Petals 6, 

 imbricated in 2 rows, sometimes fewer, or none. Stamens about the 

 same number as the petals. Carpels 3-xj (generally 6), i-ovu!ed sepa- 

 rati- ; styles commonly recurved. Fruit drupaceous. Embryo long, 

 curved. About 55 genera and 150 species, mainly of tropical distribu- 

 tion, a few extending into the temperate zones. 



Petals none. i. Calycocarpum. 

 Petals present. 



Stamens 6; drupe red. 2. Cebatha. 



Stamens i2-many; drupe black. 3. Menispermum. 



x. CALYCOCARPUM Nutt. 



Leaves large, petioled, palmately lobed. Flowers greenish in long narrow 

 drooping panicles. Sepals 6, oblong, obtuse. Stamens about 12, nearly equalling 

 the sepals; anthers 2-celled. Pistils 3; stigma laciniate. Drupe oval, the stone 

 flattened and hollowed out on one side. [Greek, cup-fruit, in allusion to the cup- 

 like stone.] A monotypic genus of eastern N. Am. 



I. Calycocarpum Lyoni (Pursh) Nutt. CUP-SEED. (I. F. f. 1647.) Climb- 

 ing to the tops of trees, glabrous or slightly pubescent. Leaves thin, broadly 

 ovate or nearly orbicular in outline, 1-2 dm. long, cordate with a broad sinus, 

 5~7-lobed, glabrous above, more or less pubescent on the veins beneath; lobes 

 ovate or oblong, acute or acuminate, repand, dentate or entire; panicles axillary, 

 1-2.5 dm. long; flowers 4 mm. broad; crupe nearly 2.5 cm. long, black, the stone 

 toothed or erose along the margin of its lateral cavity ; pistillate flowers sometimes 

 containing abortive stamens. In rich woods, 111. to Mo., Kans., Fla. and lex. 

 May-June, the fruit ripe in August. 



2. CEBATHA Forsk. [COCCULUS DC.] 



Flowers small, dioecious, panicled. Sepals 6, in two series. Petals 6, shorter 

 than the sepals, concave. Stamens 6; anthers 4-celled or 4- lobed. Pistils 3-6, 

 sometimes accompanied by sterile filaments; styles erect; stigma entire. Drupe 

 globose or ovoid, the stone flattened, curved. [Name Arabic.] About 10 species, 

 manly of tropical regions, two or three in the temperate zones. 



i. Cebatha Carolina (L.) Britton. CAROLINA MOONSEED. (I. F. f. 1648.) 

 Trailing or climbing, the stem glabrous or pubescent. Leaves broadly ovate, 5-10 

 cm. long, cordate or rounded at the base, entire or lobed, sometimes densely pu- 

 bescent beneath, mainly glabrous above; petioles 2-10 cm. long; panicles loose, 

 2-13 cm. long; flowers about 2 mm. broad; drupe red, laterally flattened, 4-6 mm. 

 in diameter, the stone curved into a closed spiral, crested on the sides and back. 

 Along streams, Va. to 111., Kans., Fla. and Tex. June-Aug. 



3. MENISPERMUM L. 



Flowers small, panicled. Sepals 4-8, in two series, longer than the 6-8 petals. 

 Stamens 12-24. Anthers 4-celled. Pistils 2-4, on a slightly elevated receptacle, 

 generally accompanied by 6 sterile filaments. Drupe nearly globular, or ovoid, 

 laterally flattened, the stone curved into a spiral and crested on the sides and back. 

 [Greek, moonseed.] Two species, one of eastern N. Am., the other of eastern 

 Asia. 



i. Menispermum Canadense L. CANADA MOONSEED. (I. F. f. 1649.) 

 Stem slender, slightly pubescent, or glabrous. Leaves slender-petioled, broadly 

 ovate, 1-2 dm. wide, cordate or sometimes nearly truncate at base, entire, or with 

 3-7 lobes, pale beneath, peltate near the base; flowers greenish white, 4 mm. 

 wide; panicles loose, bracteolate; drupe bluish black, globose-oblong, 6-8 mm. in 

 diameter, In woods, Quebec to Manitoba, Ga. and Ark. June-July, 



