Birds disperse the purple or black drupes, for example Sayornis phoebe (a tyrant flycatcher) eats the fruit of Cocculus.

The family contains a wide range of benzylisoquinoline compounds (alkaloids) and lignans such as furofuran, flavones and flavonols and some proanthocyanidins.

[citation needed] The Menispermaceae have been used in traditional pharmacopeia and drugs have been formulated from these plants that are of great use in modern medicine.

Species of Tinospora are used in Asia as antipyretics, the fruit of Anamirta cocculus is used to poison fish and birds and the stems of Fibraurea are used to dye fabric yellow.

The South East Asian species Coscinium fenestratum, a local Thai remedy for stomach ailments (which contains berberine and related alkaloids) was recently implicated in mass harvesting operations to prepare extracts usable as precursors in the manufacture of the drug MDMA.

[6] Menispermaceae is one of the most diverse families found in the Middle Eocene Clarno nut beds of central Oregon.

Further molecular research compiled and conducted by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group has clarified many of the interrelationships of the family.