CUCURBIT ACEAE 1139 



9. MICRAMPELES Raf. 



Annual or perennial herbaceous vines, climbing by simple or compound tendrils. 

 Leaf-blades rather membranous, 5-7-lobed, the lobes angular, entire or toothed. Flow- 

 ers monoecious, rather small : staminate racemed or panicled ; hypanthium broadly cam- 

 panulate ; sepals 5-6 ; corolla white or greenish, rotate, 5-6-lobed ; stamens 2-3 ; filaments 

 united ; anthers nearly horizontal, zigzag. Pistillate flowers usually solitary or sometimes 

 clustered in axils with the staminate : calyx and corolla like those of the staminate flow- 

 ers. Staminodia more or less prominent. Ovary echinate, 1-4-celled ; stigmas lobed, or 

 2-3-parted. Ovules 1-4 in each cavity, erect or ascending. Berry echinate, 1-3-celled, 

 fibrous within. Seeds usually smooth. lEchiiiocystisT. & G.] Mock Apple. Balsam 

 Apple. 



1. Micrampeles lobata (Michx. ) Greene. Annual, bright green, nearly glabrous. 

 Stems 2-5 m. long, climbing by 3-branched tendrils, angled, watery : leaf-blades thinnish, 

 4-15 cm. broad, minutely warty, palmately 3-5-lobed, cordate, the lobes triangular-ovate 

 or lanceolate, apiculate or acuminate, distantly and shallowly toothed ; petioles less than i 

 as long as the blades : staminate flowers in long-peduncled racemes : pistillate flowers 

 clustered on short peduncles : sepals filiform-subulate, 2.5-3 mm. long : corolla greenish 

 white, rotate, 7-9 mm. broad ; lobes lanceolate : berry inflated, oblong or globose-oblong, 

 3-4.5 cm. long, becoming dry and bursting at the summit, echinate : seeds narrowly obo- 

 void, 1.5-2 cm. long, black. 



In woods along streams, Nova Scotia to Saskatchewan, Georgia and Colorado. Summer and fall. 



10. CYCLANTHERA Schrad. 



Annual or perennial glabrous climljing vines, with simple or many -branched tendrils. 

 Leaf-blades usually compound, often pedately 3-13-foliolate. Flowers monoecious, small, 

 the staminate racemed or panicled ; hypanthium flattish ; sepals 5-6, subulate or filiform, 

 or wanting ; corolla greenish yellow or white, rotate, 5-6-lobed ; stamens united into an 

 axile column. Pistillate flowers solitary in the axils with the staminate : calyx and corolla 

 like those of the staminate flowers : staminodia none. Ovary 1-many-celled. Ovules in 

 few-celled ovaries many in each cavity, in many-celled ovaries solitary in each cavity, 

 erect or ascending. Fruit ovoid, oblique or reniform, echinate or rarely smooth, elastically 

 opening. Seeds flattened, with a crustaceous testa. [Discanthera T. & G. ] 



1. Cyclanthera dissecta (T. & G. ) Am. Annual, bright green. Stems elongated, 

 angled, glabrous : leaf-blades 4-7 cm. long, 3-7 -parted or 3-7-divided, the lobes acute or 

 acuminate, toothed or incised, the terminal one ovate to lanceolate : staminate flowers in 

 racemes or small panicles at the ends of slender peduncles : hypanthium flat : sepals triangu- 

 lar or ovate-triangular, 1-2 mm. long : corolla 5-6 mm. broad : berries slightly oblique, 

 2.5-3 cm. long, armed with slender spines. 



In woods and thickets and on river banks, Kansas to Louisiana, Texas and northern Mexico. 

 Summer and fall. 



11. SICYOS L. 



Vines, with elongated branched stems, climbing by compound tendrils. Leaf -blades 

 membranous, angular-lobed or rarely deeply 3-5-lobed. Flowers monoecious, the stami- 

 nate in racemes or corymbs ; hypanthium broadly campanulate or nearly flat ; sepals 5, 

 separated ; corolla white or greenish, rotate, 5-lobed ; stamens with their filaments united 

 into a short column ; anthers 2-5, distant or united. Pistillate flowers usually clustered at 

 the end of a peduncle which arises from the same node as the longer staminate peduncle. 

 Staminodia wanting. Ovary 1 -celled, bristly or armed or rarely glabrous : style short : 

 stigmas 3. Ovule solitary, pendulous. Fruit flat or angled, variable in shape. Seeds 

 filling the cavity of the fruit, witli a membranous testa. 



1. Sicyos angulata L. Foliage viscid-pubescent. Stems slender, 2-6 m. long, 

 climbing by 3-5-branched tendrils, angled, often much branched : leaf-blades thinnish, 

 6-15 cm. broad, cordate, 5-angled or 5-lobed, the lobes acute or acuminate, distantly 

 toothed ; petioles less than o as long as the blades or nearly as long : flowers monoecious, 

 the staminate in elongated long-peduncled racemes, the pistillate usually from the same 

 axils in short-peduncled clusters : hypanthium flattish : sepals of the staminate flower tri- 

 angular, 3-5 mm. long : corolla rotate, white, striped with green, 10-12 mm. broad : 



