216 Oedee 5.— MENISPERMACBjE.— MBNiSPEEMAca 



4 A. pygm^a Dunal. Dwarf Papatv. I/vs. coriaceous, evergreen, linear- 

 lanceolate or linear-ohlanceolate, or lin, -oblong or spatulate, etc., glabrous; pet. 

 reddish-brown, obovate-oblong. — Shrub 6 — 12' high, sandy plains, Ga., and Fla. 

 Lvs. very variable in form, 3 — 6' long, usually very narrow, often obovate or 

 elliptical. Pet. about 1' in length. Carp, ripening about 3, 1 long in fruit, 

 erect. Apr. 



Oedbr IV. SCHIZANDEACEJE. 



Scrambling shrubs with alternate, simple, exstipulate, punctate leaves ; with Fls. 

 diclinous, axillary, small, hypogynous and polygynous ; with Gal. and cor. 3-merous, 

 in two or several rows, imbricated; with Stam, few or many, on very short filaments, 

 condensed on a roundish torus. Ova. few or coherent, becoming baccate, 1 — 2-seeded 

 in fruit. Seeds sujipended ; embryo minute, in solid albumen. 



Genera 5, species 12, belonging to India, Japan, and the United States. 



SCHIZANDRA Mx. (Gr. (T%(fw, to cut, dvdpa, stamens ; the stam- 

 ens are cleft.) 8 Sepals and petals 9 — 12, similar, roundish, concave ; 

 ■ stamens 5, anthers connate ; carpels at first aggregated in a roundish 

 head, becoming in fruit scattered on the elongating, filiform torus. — A 

 trailing shrub with entire or repandly denticulate leaves, and small 

 crimson flowers. 

 S. ooccmea Mx. A handsome plant in damp woods, S. Car., Ga., to la. St. 1 



or 1 2f long. Lvs. alternate, ovate or oval, tapering at each end or somewhat 



cordate at base. Fls. axillary, solitary, on slender stalks, the upper ones staroi- 



nato. Carp, and torus red when mature. May, Jn. 



Order V. MENISPERMACE^. Menispermads. 

 Shrubs climbing or twining, with alternate, palmate-veined, exstipulate leavea. 

 Fls. dioecious, rarely ? or 5 ^ J , liypogynous, 3 — 6-gynous. Sepals and petals simi- 

 lar, in 3 or more circles, imbricated in the bud. Stam. equal in number to the petals 

 and opposite to them, or 3 or 4 times as many. Fruit a 1-seeded dnipe with a large 

 or long curved embryo in scanty albumen. (Illust. in Fig. 147.) 



Thi.9 curious ordor consists of 44 genera and 302 fijof ctes, most of tliein natives of tropical Asia 

 and America, where they become, in the forests, woody climbers of great size. 



Properties. — A few plants of this order contain a bitter principle in their roots. A foreign 

 species of Menispermum yields the columt>n of the shops, which is a v.aluiible tonic; another 

 jjonua, Anainirta cocculus of India, furnishes the Indian eochte, so intoxicating to fishes. 



GENEEA. 



S Stamens 12 — 20, Sep. 4 — 8, nut moon-shaped. Lvs, peltate MENrsPEKMtrM. 1 



S StiimeasG; sepals 6; nut inoon-shaped. Lvs. sinuate, 3-lobed Cocculus. 3 



i Stamens 6 ; sepals 6 ; nut cup-shaped. Lvs. deeply 5-lobed Calycocaepum. 8 



1. fflENISPERMUM, L. Moon-seed. ("Gr. /[i^i'?;, the moon ; <T7rep|Wo, 

 seed ; from the crescent form of the seed.) Fls. ? $ ; sepals 4 — 8 ; 

 petals 4 — 8, minute, retuse ; $ .stamens 12 — 20, as long as the sepals, 

 anthers 4-celled ; 9 ovaries and styles 2 — 4 ; drupes 1 — 3-seeded ; 

 seeds lunate and compressed. — Fls. white, in axillary clusters. 



M. Canadense L. St. chmbing; lvs. roundish, cordate, angular, peltate, the 

 petiole inserted near the base ; rac. compound ; petals, G — 7, small. — In woods 

 and hedges ueaa' streams. Can. to Car. W. to the Miss. Sts. round, striate, 

 8 — 12f long. Lvs. 4 — 5' diara., generally 5-angled, smooth, pale beneath, on 

 petioles 3 — 5' long. Fls. in axillary clusters, small, yellow. Drupes about 4" 

 diam., black, resembling grapes. The root is perennial, and in medicine has the 

 properties of a tonic. Jl. 



fl. LOBATUM, has the leaves lobed. 



