1. Cocculus. Stamens, petals, and sepals each 6.
2. Menispermum. Stamens 12–24, slender. Petals 6–8.
[*][*] Petals none. Anthers 2-celled. Seed saucer-shaped.
3. Calycocarpum. Stamens in the sterile flowers 12; in the fertile flowers 6, abortive.
1. CÓCCULUS, DC.
Sepals, petals, and stamens 6, alternating in threes, the two latter short. Anthers 4-celled. Pistils 3–6 in the fertile flowers; style pointed. Drupe and seed as in Menispermum.—Flowers in axillary racemes or panicles. (An old name, a diminutive of coccus, κόκκος, a berry.)
1. C. Carolìnus, DC. Minutely pubescent; leaves downy beneath, ovate or cordate, entire or sinuately or hastately lobed, variable in shape; flowers greenish, the petals in the sterile ones auriculate-inflexed below around the filaments; drupe red (as large as a small pea).—River-banks, Va. to S. Ill., Kan., and southward. July, Aug.
2. MENISPÉRMUM, L. Moonseed.
Sepals 4–8. Petals 6–8, short. Stamens 12–24 in the sterile flowers, as long as the sepals; anthers 4-celled. Pistils 2–4 in the fertile flowers, raised on a short common receptacle; stigma broad and flat. Drupe globular, the mark of the stigma near the base, the ovary in its growth after flowering being strongly incurved, so that the (wrinkled and grooved) laterally flattened stone takes the form of a large crescent or ring. The slender embryo therefore is horseshoe-shaped; cotyledons filiform.—Flowers white, in small and loose axillary panicles. (Name from μήνη, moon, and σπέρμα, seed.)
1. M. Canadénse, L. Leaves peltate near the edge, 3–7-angled or lobed.—Banks of streams; common. June, July.—Drupes black with a bloom, ripe in September, looking like frost grapes.