104 FAMILIES OF FLOWERING PLANTS 
a group in which there is naturally a wide range of color, have re- 
sponded well to hybridization, and may now be found in almost all 
shades of yellow, red, blue and white. 
Owing to the acrid and caustic principle that pervades the herbage 
and more particularly the roots of many members of the Ranuncula- 
ceae, several important drugs and poisons, such as aconite and helle- 
bore, are derived from them. 
Family Lardizabalaceae. lLardizabala Family. A small Asiatic 
family of seven genera and eleven species, interesting chiefly as orna- 
mental shrubs. Akebia quinata, a Japanese woody vine with lurid pur- 
ple flowers, palmately lobed leaves, and odd green fruit, is now com- 
monly cultivated in this country. - 
Family Berberidaceae. Barberry Family. Consists of eight gen- 
era and about 140 species, most of which belong to Berberis. The 
group consists of herbs or shrubs, which may be known by the flowers 
having imbricated petals, and. stamens of the same number as the 
petals, and placed opposite them. The pistil is simple, becoming in 
fruit a berry or a capsule. 
The Berberidaceae was made by older systematists to include the 
Lardizabalaceae. Its relationship to the other families discussed in 
this chapter may be traced by means of the hypogynous petals and 
stamens. Berberis, the most important genus, is represented by a num- 
bez of pinnate-leaved species native in western North America, and by 
many exotics of the simple-leaved group in cultivation. The pendent 
racemes of variously. colored flowers, succeeded by the showy berries, 
are highly ornamental. The fruit of the common barberry (B. vulgaris) 
makes an excellent preserve, while the bark of several species is used 
in the manufacture of dyes. 
The mandrake or may-apple (Podophyllum peltatum)) one of our 
familiar eastern wild flowers, belongs to this family, as does also the 
twin-leaf (Jeffersonia diphylla), and the blue cohosh (Caulophyllum thal- 
ictroides). The large leaves of the mandrake, curiously suggestive of 
umbrellas, conceal beneath their ample expanse a handsome waxy white 
flower, possessing a peculiar pineapple-like fragrance. This is suc- 
ceeded by a lemon-shaped fruit of a disgustingly mawkish flavor, which, 
as Dr. Gray once observed, is “eaten by pigs and boys.” The Berberi- 
diceae as a group are confined to temperate regions, and find the center 
of their distribution in the Chino-Japanese region. 
Family Menispermaceae. Moonseed Family. A group of twining 
herbaceous or woody vines, comprised in about 55 genera and 150 spe- 
cies, natives mostly of tropical regions, with only a few representatives 
in the temperate zone. The family is at once distinguished by the pe- 
culiar curved embryo in the seed, which may be plainly seen in cross- 
