CUCURBITACEAE 1135 
rarely dioecious, the staminate usually in racemes or corymbs. Sepals 5. Corolla white or 
yellow, with 5 lobes. Stamens 3, or rarely 5: anthers more or less connate. Pistillate 
flowers solitary, often slender-pedicelled, with a calyx which is narrowed below, spreading 
above, an early withering corolla, rudimentary stamens and globose or elongated ovary 
with a short style, inserted in a disk. Ovules numerous, horizontal. Berry small, pendu- 
lous, mostly many-seeded. Seeds flattened, with a leathery testa. CREEPING CUCUMBER. 
Berries globose or nearly so. 
Berries less than 10 mm. in diameter. 1. M. microcarpa. 
Berries over 10 mm. in diameter. 2. M. Nashii. 
Berries oblong or oval. 
Stems trailing or creeping: leaf-blades broader than long, the lobes low and rounded. 3. M. crassifolia. 
Stems climbing : leaf-blades longer than broad, the lobes angular. 
Berries dark purple or blackish : seeds 3-4 mm. long. 4. M. pendula. 
Berries yellow: seeds 5-6 mm. long. 5. M. chlorocarpa. 
1. Melothria microcárpa (Cogn.) Shuttlw. Stems climbing, 5-15 dm. long, branched : 
leaf-blades commonly as broad as long, thinnish, shallowly 3—5-lobed, 1-3 cm. long, cordate, 
the lobes irregularly toothed ; petioles hispidulous, shorter than the blades : berries glo- 
bose, 7-9 mm. in diameter. 
In thickets, northern Alabama. Spring and summer. 
2. Melothria Nashii Small. Stems trailing and creeping, 3-12 dm. long, branched, 
angled : leaf-blades fleshy, suborbicular or triangular-ovate in outline, 2-3.5 cm. broad, 
usually 5-lobed, very rough on the surfaces, the lobes entire or with 1-2 teeth or small 
lobes ; petioles hispid, about as long as the blades: staminate flowers in long-peduncled 
corymbs, the pistillate on solitary long peduncles: hypanthium minutely hispid : sepals 
triangular, acute, shorter than the hypanthium: corolla-lobes longer and narrower than 
the sepals: anthers pubescent at the tip, nearly sessile: berries. globose, 12-15 mm. in 
diameter, their peduncles about 3 cm. long. 
In sandy soil, peninsular Florida. 
3. Melothria crassifólia Small. Stems trailing and creeping, 6-15 dm. long, 
branched throughout, angled, sparingly pubescent : leaf-blades thick and fleshy, reniform 
or orbicular-reniform, 2-4 cm. broad, usually with 5 rounded obtuse lobes, which are un- 
dulate or shallowly toothed, cordate, the sinus closed or nearly closed; petioles hispid, 
about as long as the blades: staminate flowers in long-peduncled racemes, the pistillate 
solitary on long peduncles: hypanthium minutely hispid: sepals triangular-ovate, much 
shorter than the hypanthium, acute: anthers glabrous, nearly sessile: berries oblong, 
1.5-2 cm. long. 
In moist places, peninsular Florida. 
4. Melothria péndula L. Stems climbing, nearly glabrous : leaf-blades thin, dry- 
ing membranous, suborbicular or ovate in outline, 3-8 cm. broad, with 3-5 angular shal- 
lowly toothed lobes and both surfaces pubescent with short hairs, cordate, the sinuses open ; 
petioles 1-3.5 em. long, hispid: staminate flowers racemed : pistillate flowers solitary, the 
peduncles about as long as the petioles: hypanthium glabrous ór puberulent : sepals very 
short: corolla yellow or greenish white, 3-4 mm. broad, pubescent without ; lobes ovate 
or obovate: berries oblong or oval, 10-25 mm. long, pendulous, dark purple or biackish : 
seeds obovoid, 3.5-4 mm. long, flattened. 
In swamps and light soil, Pennsylvania to Missouri, Florida, Texas and Mexico. —The form with 
more or less hispidulous stems and petioles and deeply lobed leaf-blades, is M. pendula áspera Cogn.; it 
occurs chiefly in Florida. 
5. Melothria chlorocárpa Engelm. Similar to M. pendula in habit. Leaf-blades 
thin, deeply and prominently lobed, often hispidulous on the veins beneath, as are the 
petioles: berries oval, about 1.5 em. long, yellow: seeds numerous, 5-6 mm. long. 
In thickets, eastern Texas. Spring. 
2. IBERVILLEA Greene. 
Perennial vines, with glabrous or nearly glabrous foliage and simple tendrils. Leaf- 
blades deeply 3-5-lobed ; the lobes toothed or incised. Flowers dioecious, the staminate in 
racemes or clusters, or rarely solitary. Hypanthium cylindric or cylindric-campanulate. 
Corolla yellow, salverform. Stamens 3, the connective not produced beyond the anther. 
Pistillate flowers solitary: calyx and corolla nearly like those of the staminate. Ovary 
l-celled, with 2-3 placentae : stigma 3-lobed. Berry globose or subglobose, red or highly 
colored. Seeds more or less swollen. [Maximowiczia Cogn., not Rupr.] 
