MENISPERMUM, MOONSEED: A genus of the decandria order, belonging to the diœcia class of plants; and in the natural method ranking under the 11th order, Sarmentaceæ. The male has four exterior and eight interior petals; there are 16 stamens; the corolla of the female is the same as in the male; there are eight barren stamens, and two monospermous berries. There are three species, all of them climbing plants, rising 14 feet high, and natives of warm climates; but noway remarkable for beauty. The seeds of a kind which grows in the Levant, being formed into a paste, are regarded by the inhabitants as specific against lice and cutaneous eruptions. The same paste is likewise used for the purpose of intoxicating fishes. — See Coccus Indicus.