186 CUCURBITACE^. [CI. 15. 



around a solitary fertile one. But Mr. Brown alone 

 has asserted each of the former to consist of a mere 

 Stamen, articulated with the partial Stalk of this sim- 

 plest of all Flowers, there being no Corolla nor Pe- 

 rianth, the Scales at the base being rather of the na- 

 ture of Bracteas. The Fertile Flower in the centre is, 

 in like manner, a naked Pistil, whose Germen is sessile 

 on a similar Stalk. If conviction were wanting, this 

 opinion is proved by an unpublished genus, whose 

 several Flowers have each a lobed Perianth at the 

 articulation above mentioned. 



Ord. 97. Cucurbitace^e. " Flowers monoecious, 

 rarely dioecious, or still more rarely, in Gronovia and 

 Melothria, united. Calyx (Corolla Tourn. and Linn.) 

 superior, contracted just above the Germen, then di- 

 lated, five-cleft, often coloured, withering, slow in 

 falling, furnished externally at the base with 5 green 

 appendages (Calyx Tourn. and Linn.) resembling 

 outer segments of the Calyx, and falling with it. Co- 

 rolla" (according to Jussieu) " none. Barren Flow- 

 ers with usually five, sometimes distinct, and some- 

 times variously combined, Filaments and Anthers ; 

 the former inserted into the contracted part of the 

 Calyx ; the latter of 1 cell, oblong, attached to the 

 tops of the Filaments, and often forming a doubly 

 curved line, 4 of them being combined in pairs, the 

 fifth solitary. There is an imperfect or abortive Ger- 

 men. Fertile Flowers with imperfect Stamens, or 

 none at all. Germen inferior. Style 1, rarelv more. 



