8TAPHVLEA 



KORTUS JAMAICENSIS. 



01 



SQUASH. CUCURBITA. 



Cl. 21, or. 1. Monoecia syjigenesia. Nat. OR, Cucurbitaceec. 



Gex. char See Gourd, v. l, p. 332. 



MELOPEPO, 



Leaves lobed, stem erect, fruits flatted knobby. The erect gourd, or squash, rises 

 erect by a strong stalk, sending out procumbent branches on every side, which are hairy 

 andtendriied, creeping for several feet on the ground around the main stem. The leaves 

 are lobe.!, hairy, alternate, on long petioles. The flowers are yellow, on lateral one- 

 flowered peduncles ; segments of the calyx linear spatulate, spreading ; anthers linear, 

 distinct, erect; succeeded by depressed knobby fruit, of a whitish yellow colour, and 

 growing sometimes as large as a moderate fist. When young and properly boiled and 

 dressed with butter and black-pepper they are a delicious vegetable. Loureiro says the 

 fruit is of great use in long voyages, as it may be kept several months fresh and sweet. 



See Gourd Pumpkin Water-Melon. 



Xo English Name. STAPHYLEA. 



Cl. 5, or. 3. Pentandria trigynia. Nat. or. Trihilata. 



Gen. char. Calyx a five-parted perianth ; corolla five oblong petals ; nectary con- 

 cave, pitcher-shaped ; stamens five oblong filaments with simple anthers ; the pistil 

 has a thickisb three-parted germ, three simple styles with obtuse stigmas; the 

 pericarp three-inflated capsules ; seeds two, globular with a wart. 



occidentals, western. 

 Prnno forte affinis arbor Jolin alato, /lore herbacco pentapetalo raccynoso. 

 Sloane, v. 2, p. 128, t. 220, f. 1. Foliis oblongo ovatis, pinnatis, ?- 

 tidis ; raccmis laiis, rarioribus. Browne, p. 279. 



Leaves doubly pinnate, capsules three-cornered, seeds solitary, stem arboreous. 

 Thisisa tree from twenty to thirty feet high, with a smooth unarmed trunk, and round 

 smoothish shining branches. Leaves petioled, alternate, pinnas two or three pairs with 

 an odd one, petioled, ovate, acuminate, serrate, smooth, shining ; petioles both general 

 and partial roundish, smooth ; stipules in pairs between the pinnas, minute, curved iu 

 panicles terminating, erect, loosish, with opposite decussated branches, and three-flow- 

 ered pedicels. Flowers white, odorous, calyx five-leaved, the two inner leaflets the 

 size of the petals; capsule the size of a cherrv, smooth, not inflated, three-celled. 

 Native of Jamaica, flowering there in spring and autumn. Swartz. Sloane says ix 

 grows plentifully between Passage Fort and St. Jago de la Vega. This is the Trichilia 

 hirta of Linneus but removed to this genus by Swartz. 



See Musk-Wood, 



Vol. LL 



Cc 



STAB 





,0> 



