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PBAGTICAL GUIDE TO GARDEN PLANTS cocculus 



V. MENISPERMACEiE 



An order of climbing woody or somewhat herbaceous plants with alternate, 

 exstipulate, usually palmately nerved, entire or palmately lobed leaves. 

 Flowers dicEcious, small, usually borne in panicles, racemes, or cymes. Sepals 

 usually 6, rarely 9 or 12. Petals usually 6, rarely fewer. Stamens in the 

 male flowers usually equal in number and opposite to the petals, with free or 

 united filaments. Carpels usually 3, rarely 16 or more, free. Fruit drupe-like, 

 sessile or stalked. 



COCCULUS. — A small genus of 

 climbing or twining shrubs with ovate or 

 oblong entire or rarely lobed leaves and 

 flowers in cymes or axillary panicles. 

 Sepals, petals, and stamens, 6 of each. 

 Carpels 3. Fruit an obovoid or roundish 

 flattened drupe. 



Culture a/nd Propagation. — The two 

 species described below are the only ones 

 grown out of doors in the British Islands, 

 and are fairly hardy in the neighbourhood 

 of London. They will grow in ordinary 

 good and well-drained garden soil, but 

 prefer a mixture of sandy loam, peat and 

 leaf mould. As seeds rarely or never 

 ripen in this coimtry, new plants may be 

 raised by means of cuttings of the young 

 or half-ripened shoots inserted in sandy 

 soil and placed in bottom heat under a bell 

 glass during the spring and summer 

 months. 



C. carolinus. — A somewhat downy 

 climber 10-20 ft. long, native of the 

 Southern United States, with entire or 

 sinuate more or less heart-shaped or ovate 

 leaves, and greenish flowers produced in 

 summer in axiUary racemes or panicles. 



Culture So. as above. 



C. laurifolius. — A compact and orna- 

 mental bush 4-8 ft. high, native of the 

 Himalayas, Japan &c. and clothed with 

 smooth shining oblong tapering leaves. 

 The small white or greenish flowers are 

 borne during the summer months. 



Culture dc. as above. This species 

 must be sheltered from cold north and 

 east winds. 



MENISPERMUM. — A genus of 

 climbing shrubs, with deciduous, rather 

 peltate, palmately lobed or angled leaves, 

 and small greenish-white or yellowish 

 flowers in panicles. Sepals 4-^ in two 

 rows. Petals 6 -8, shorter than the sepals. 

 Stamens in the male flowers 12-24, free ; 

 in the female flowers 6, sterile. Carpels 

 2-4, with a dilated stigma. Fruit a more 

 or less flattened drupe. 



M. canadense. — A quick - growing 

 Canadian climber with large handsome 

 roundish or kidney-shaped peltate leaves 

 and drooping racemes of small yellowish 

 flowers produced in great abundance in 

 summer. 



Cultiwre and Propagation. — This is 

 a good plant for covering walls, treUises, 

 arbours &o., so as to give them an orna- 

 mental appearance during the summer 

 months. It likes a rich and rather damp 

 soil and somewhat shaded situations, and 

 may be increased by dividing the root- 

 stocks in spring, or by inserting cuttings 

 of the young shoots in moist sandy soil 

 under glass at the same period. Seeds, 

 which are ripened freely in this country, 

 may also be sown as soon as ripe under 

 glass, afterwards pricking the seedlings out 

 and growing them on until large enough 

 for the outdoor garden. 



VI. BERBERIDEiE— Barberry Order 



Shrubs or herbaceous perennial plants, very often spiny. Leaves 

 alternate, simple or often compound, and usually without stipules. Flowers 

 solitary, racemose or panicled. Sepals 2-6, deciduous, in a double row, sur- 

 rounded with petal-like scales. Petals free, hypogynous, either equal in 

 number to the sepals and opposite to them, or twice as many, ^f^ Stamens 4-6 



