70 MEMSPERMACE.E. 



fruit. The Estivation of the corolla is not valvate, as in the former, nor do 

 the anthers open by valves, as in the latter order. 



The nature of the change in form which the ripening ovary undergoes 

 was indicated by Colebrooke, in the Transactions of the Linnaan Society, 

 Vol. 13, p. 51 ; and, subsequently, by Auguste St. Hilaire, in his Flora 

 Brasi/i nsis Meridionalis. 



The structure of the wood, which is either zoneless, or destitute of annual 

 layers, is admirably elucidated by Decaisne {Mem. Lardizab. in Archives du 

 Museum). 



JMenispermaceae afford both bitter tonic and narcotic principles ; the former 

 principally in the root, of which the officinal Columbo-root furnishes the 

 most important example : the latter prevail in the fruit ; as in the well- 

 known Cocculus-Indicus berries (the fruit of Anamirta Cocculus), employed 

 for poisoning fish and beer. These contain two venomous principles, name- 

 ly, the deadly picrotoxine in the seed, and menispcrmine in the pericarp. 



Conspectus of the United States Genera. 



Cocculus. (Plate 28.) Stamens 6, distinct. Sepals and petals each 6. 

 Ovaries 3-6. Drupe campylotropous : putamen bony. 



Menispermum. (Plate 29.) Stamens in ster. fl. 12 - 24, distinct. Se- 

 pals 4-8. Petals 6-8. Ovaries 2-4. Drupe campylotropous : 

 putamen compressed, round-reniform, bony. Embryo slender, hippo- 

 crepiform ; the linear-filiform cotyledons contiguous. 



Calycocarpum. (Plate 30.) Stamens in ster. fl. 12, distinct. Sepals 

 6, consimilar. Proper petals none. Ovaries 3, not incurved from 

 the apex in ripening. Drupe deeply hollowed on the inner face, the 

 section crescent-shaped. Putamen crustaceous. Embryo thin and 

 flat, cordate-2-lobed ; the broad cotyledons divergent. 



