262 A COMPENDIUM OF 
tral Asia, and cultivated for its rich and de- 
lightful fruit in most of the temperate climates 
of the world. By cultivation, the Canteloupe is 
improved in flavor, whilst soil and climatic 
influence give us the several varieties. They 
should never be grown in the same field as their 
twin relative, the gourd (Lagenaria) and pump- 
kin, as they are apt to partake of the flavor. 
Like all the order (with a few exceptions) the 
Canteloupe vine is succulent, and well armed 
with a fine and prickly pubescence, Leaves 
palmately cut 3 or 4 inches long, and flowers 
yellow and axillary. Corolla tubular and sta- 
mens cohering; fruit ridged and from 4 to 15 
inches long, and many seeded, The seed is 
ovate and somewhat flat in shape, averages 
about % of an inch in length, and made up of 
two cotyledons, which are white, oily and ino- 
dorous, and plano-convex in shape, and like the 
rest of the order contains a large amount of 
fixed oil. 
The Canteloupe seeds are seldom found in 
the stores. Have been used as an anthelmin- 
tic in form of an infusion. 
Cucumis Sativus, Cucumber.—Natural or- 
der Cucurbitacee. Like the rest of the gourd 
family the Cucumber is a native of tropical 
Asia, and now cultivated in many countries of 
the world for its fruit. Like all the order, the 
stem is procumbent with subcordate and deeply 
lobed leaves, the terminal lobe of which is the 
most prominent, pubescent and coarse as to 
their surfaces, and deeply green as to color. 
Flowers yellow and axillary. Fruit from 6 to 
to inches long and 2 or 3 inches in diameter. 
