' Tab. 5817. 



CUCUMIS ANGURIA. 



West Indian Gherkin. 



Nat. Ord. CucurbitacejE. — Moncecia Trundkia. 



Gen. Char. — Florcs monceci, rarius dioeci. Masc. solitarii vel fasciculati. 

 Cali/cis tubus brevis; lobi subulati. Corolla campanulata, profdnde 5-loba, 

 lobi acuti. Filamenta brevia, libera, intra calycis tubum inserta ; anthera: 

 oblonga;, una 1-locularis, duce 2-loculares, loculi flexuosi raro recti vel curvi, 

 connectivo producto apice papilloso. Ovarii rudimentum glandulosum. 

 Fl. fam. solitarii. Staminodia v. subulata v. ad glandulas reducta. Ovarium 

 ovoideum v. globosum ; stylus brevis, stigmatibus S, sessilibus obtuaie; 

 ovula numerosa, placentis 3 vel 5 inserta. Fructua subglobosus, cylindricus, 

 v. trigonus, larvis tuberculatus v. spinosus, interdum trivalvis. Semina nume- 

 rosa, oblonga, compressa. — Herba; annua; vel radice perennante, prostrates v. 

 scandentes, hispidm v. scabridce. Folia intcgerrima lobata palmata v. pedata. 

 Cirrhi simplices, interdum breves et spinescentes. Flores parvi, plerumque 

 Jlavi. 



CucUMis Anguria ; flagellis angulatis asperis, foliis subtus villoso-hispidulis 

 profunde 5-lobis, lobis interdum sed potissimum intermedio lobulatis, 

 omnibus obtusis sinubus rotundatis, fioribus femineis longe pedunculatis, 

 ovario muricato, peponibus ovoideis aculeolatis pulpaacidula aut insipida 

 non autem amara. Naad. 



Cucumis Anguria, Linn. Sp. PL p. 1446. Naudin, in Ann. Sc. Nut., Ser. 4, 



vol. xi. p. 11, and vol. xii. p. 108. 

 Cucrais ecliinatus, Mamch, Method., p. 054. 

 Cucumis angurioides, Ram. Synops. Cue p. 79. 



This, the plant which produces the fruit long and well known 

 in commerce as a principal ingredient in West Indian pickles, 

 is much, less well known than might he supposed, and its 

 history even at the present time is ohscure. Though a re- 

 puted native of the Antilles, it is known there, I believe, in 

 cultivation only, and being the only species of the large 

 genus to which it belongs, which has hitherto been regarded as 

 a native of the New World, its claims to being really indigenous 

 are, as Monsieur Naudin hints, very suspicious. For my own 



JANUARY 1ST, 1870. 



