Mcnispennum. MKNISPEUMACE.E. GO 



1. COCCULUS. Sepals, petals, aud stamens each 6, and anteimsed, Lein;: in sur.-ojwivo 

 reujularly alternate threes. Inner sepals larger than the outer, also larger liian the |R-tals, 

 whicii in male flowers are partly involute at bjise around one of the siiort tilanienta. Stani. us 

 of female flowers 6 flattened sterile filaments. Carpels 3 to 6, gessile ou the eomrnon reefi>- 

 tacle: styles siiort and subulate, recurved, ventrally stigmatnse. 



2. MENISPERMUM. Sepals 4 to 8. Petals 6 t.. 8 or 10; sliorter. Male flowers with 12 

 to 24 stanuiis : (ilanicnts filiform. Female flowers with a slmrt abortive stamen iM'fore carh 

 petal, and 2 to 4 carpels ou the summit of a .short gyimphore : stigmas broarl, si-ssile <.r 

 nearly so. 



♦ * Divisicms of floral envelopes fewer, all alike : anthers ajluate, introrse, simply 2-celled : 

 stigma remaining apical ; drupe wheu dry and seed meniscoidal: cotyledons broad and 

 thin, laterally divergent. 



3. CALYCOCARPUM. Sepals 6 in two series, similar, petaloid, ohlong-obovate. Petals 

 wanting. Stamens in male flowers 12, with filaments flattened and somewhat dilated 

 upward ; in the female flowers a short abortive stamen before eiich sepal. Carjiels .I. se.-<sile i 

 ovary fusiform : stigma sessile, peltate, laciniately multifid. DrajjC globular, with thin pulp 

 on a thin crnstaceou.s putamen, which is broadly and deeply excavated or intruded ventrallv, 

 forming an acetabuliform or bowl-shaped cavity, the transverse and also longitmlinal .^eciidn 

 meniscoidal. Embryo also meniscoidal, in tlie tiiiu albumen ; the broad aud thin cotyledons 

 separate. 



1. COCCULUS, DC. (Diminutive of ko/cko?, a horry, applitnl by Banhin 

 to the Oocculus Indicus of comtncrce.) — Mainly Asiatic and African species ; 

 ours slender-stemmed and low-twining, variable-leaved. — Syst. i. 515, in part; 

 Gray, Gen. 111. i. 71, t. 28; Benth. & Hook. Gen. i. 36. 



C Carolinus, I^C. Tomentulose : leaves long-petioled, ovate or cordate and entire, or some 

 ha.stately .3-lobed or even sinuately .Globed, thinnish, glabrate or glabrous above : flowers 

 greenish, in either short or lengthened racemiform panicles : fruit red, 3 lines in diameter. — 

 Syst. i. 524; Torr. & Gray, Fl. i. 47; Gray, 1. c. 72, t. 28; Baill. Hist. PI. iii. 2, f. 2-t; 

 Miers, Contrib. Bot. iii. 253. Cixsnmpelos smilacina, L. Spec. ii. 10.'J2,on Catesb. Car. i. t. 51. 

 Menispermum Carolinum, L. Spec. i. 340. M. Carolinuwum, Hill, \'cg Syst. xvi. t. 27, f. 1 , 

 Walt. Car. 248. Baumgartia scundens, Moench, Meth. 650. Audrophi/hix scandetig, Wendl. 

 Bot. Beobacht. 38. Wendlandia popidifolia, Willd. Spec. ii. 275 ; Pursh, Fl. i. 252. W. Caro- 

 liniana, Nutt. Gen. i. 241. Cocculidium popidifolium, Spach, Hist. Vcg. viii. 17.i Var. hed,- 

 raceafolms, Mier.s, I.e. (Menispermum Virgmkum, L. I.e., founded on Dill. Kith. 223, t. 178). 

 is no more than a form with a few of the leaves sinuately 5-lobeii C. sftgifin/Jlus, Miers. 



1. c. 255, from San Felipe, Texas, Dnmnnond, nmst be another form, with more hastate foli- 

 age. — River-banks, Virginia and S. Illinois to Florida and Texas; fl. summer. 



C. diversifolius, DC. Puberulent and glabrate: flowering stems filiform : leaves short- 

 })elioled, small, cbartaceous, lucid, varying from linear and lanceolate (with ril>s panllel) to 

 ovate or cordate and sometimes 3-lobed ; flowers greenish yellow : fruit apparently purple. — 

 Hemsl. Biol. Cent.-Am. Bot. i. 21; Wats. Proc. Am. Acad. xvii. 318. V. diventlfolitu & 

 C.ohlongifohus, DC. Syst. i. 52.3, 529, & Caiques des Dess. t._ 10, 11.— Southern boniers of 

 Texas, on the Kio Grande, Palmer, Havard, and S. Arizona, Prhigle; fl. May. (Mex.) 



2. MENISPi^RMUM, Tourn. Mooxseed. (Mrjvr], moon, mripun, 

 seed.) — Partly herbaceous twiners, but woody and })orsistent below ; with mem- 

 branaceous slender-petioled leaves anirnlatily o-7-lobed and peltate near the 

 base ; the flowers in small and loose filoniler-podimculate panicles, mostly shorter 

 than the petioles, greenish or whiti.sh, the stamens bright white : fl. in summer. — 

 MeiTi. Acad. Par. 1705, 237; L. Syst. Nat. id. 1, & Gon. ed. 3. 3r,2, in part; 

 Lam. 111. t. 824; Gray, Gen. 111. i. 73, t. 20 ; Maxim. Diag. PI. Nov. Asiat. v. 

 647, t. 2. Consists of the following species and one of E. Asia. 



1 Add .syn. Cchntha CarnUna, Rritton, Mem. '" ■ < 



G 



