MENISPERMUM — 3I00NSEKD. 75 



MENISPERMACE/C. 



Character of the Order. — Shrubby climljing vinos, with alternate, pal- 

 mate, or peltate leaves, on slender petioles, without stipules ; ilovvers small, 

 (lieecious or polygamous, in axillary rocemes or panicles ; se^jals and pet- 

 als similar, iu three or more rows, imbricated in the bud ; stamens G or 

 more, liypogynous ; ovaries 3 to 6 ; fruit a 1-seeded drupe with a long curved 

 embryo in scanty albumen. 



An order comprising about sixty genera, mostly tropical, three only, and 

 of each but a single species, being natives of the United States. Of exotic 

 species, Calumba {Ja'eorrhiza calumba Miers), Pareira ( Chondodendron to- 

 mentosum Ruiz et Pavon), and Cocculus Indicus (Anamir la panic ulata Cole- 

 brooke) are among the best known and most important. 



MENISPERMUM. — Moonseed. 



Menlspermum Canadense Jjiunv.— Canadian Moon.-iccd. 



Description. — Calyx : sepals 4 to 8, ovate-oblong, greenish-yellow. Co- 

 rolla : petals G to 8, much smaller than the sepals, orbicular, obtusely cuneate 

 at the base. Stamens 12 to 20 in the sterile flowers, as long as the sepals ; 

 anthers of 4 spherical lobes. Pistils 2 to 4 in the fertile flowers, raised on a 

 short connnon receptacle. Fruit a stipitate, globular drupe, about one- 

 tliird of an inch in diameter, nearly black, the pixlp small in quantity. 

 After flowering the pistil in development becomes incurved, so that tlie 

 mark of the stigma is :iear the base of the drupe, and the stone, laterally 

 compressed, forms an almost complete ring, or is lunate, whence the com- 

 mon name. 



Stem shrubby at the base, or entirely herbaceous, 8 to 15 feet or 

 more in length, slender, springing from a long and freely rooted rhizome. 

 Loaves 3 to 4 inches in length and of somewhat greater breadth, peltate 

 near the edge, 3- to 7-angled or lobed, pubescent on the veins, dark green 

 a1)ove, glaucous beneath ; petioles about as long as the leaves. The flowers 

 appear in June and July ; tlie fruit ripens in September, is covered with a 

 bloom, and resembles small clusters of frost grapes. In addition to its 

 common name of moonseed, it also bears that of yellow mrxupardla, and 

 tjelloio parilla, the latter evidently a contraction of the former. At one 

 time it was introduced into commerce as Texas sarsaparilla, and was em- 

 ployed to some extent as a substitute for time sarsaparilla {Smilax offici- 

 nalis). 



Habitat.— In moist woods and along the banks of streams, from Canada 

 to the Carolinas and westward ; common. 



Parts Vied. — The rhizome and rootlets — United Slates Pharmacopreia. 



Constituents. — In an analysis of moonseed made Ly Professor Maisch 

 there was found a small quantity of berberiua, and a larger proportion of 



