io Moonseed (Menispermacea). [No. 2 



rows. Staminate and pistillate flowers on separate 

 plants. Stamens, twelve to twenty-four, slender, as 

 long as the sepals. Anthers, four-celled. Seed-cases 

 two to four, free, and raised on a short common 

 receptacle. Seeds, one to three in each cell, crescent- 

 shaped and flattened. June, July. 



Leaves, simple, alternate, three- to seven- (usually five-) 

 angled or lobed, edges entire ; four to five inches in 

 diameter, heart-shape, smooth or nearly so ; the leaf- 

 stem usually attached within the edge. No stipules. 

 Leaf-stem, three to five inches in length. 



Fruit, about one third inch in diameter, black, globular, 

 fleshy, resembling a small grape. Stone, curved, flat- 

 tened, grooved. A one-seeded drupe. September. 



Found, from Canada to the Carolinas, and westward to 

 the Mississippi River, oftenest along streams. Com- 

 mon. 



A woody, twining vine, eight to twelve feet in length. 

 Its root is used medicinally as a tonic. It might easily 

 be mistaken at first sight for a grape-vine — until the po- 

 sition of the fruit- and flower-clusters is noticed, in the 

 axil of the leaves instead of opposite them. 



