270 LIX. CUCURBIT ACEiE. Eciiinocystis 



Ova. (pist. fls.) winged, 3-celled, with 3 large placentse meeting in the axis. Stig. S, 2-lobed, somewhat 

 lY. capsular, winged, 3-celIed, many-seeded. Sds. minute, without albumen. [spiral. 



Genera 3, species 159, common in the West Ir>dies, 3. America and East Indies— none N. American. 

 The roots are astringent and slightly bitter. 



DIPLOCLINIUM. Lindl. 



Gr. inrXooi, double, /cXii'»j, couch; alluding to the double phcent®. 



ris. (? • — d" Sepals orbicular, colored like the petals, but larger ; 

 pet. oblong, acute ; sta. combined in a column; anth. in a globose 

 head. 9 Sepals 3, lanceolate, larger than the 2 petals ; stig. lobes 

 distinct, spiral, erect ; caps, wings unequal ; placentae double, or two 

 in each cell. — Evergreen., succulent undcrshrubs. 



D. EvANsiANUM. Lindl. (Begonia discolor. Willd.snAlst edit.) — Glabrous j 

 St. branched, tumid and colored at the joints, succulent; Ivs. large, slightly an- 

 gular, mucronate-serrate, cordate-ovate, very unequal at base, petiolate, with 

 weak, scattered pi'ickles, and straight, red veins, the under surface deeply red- 

 dened ; fis. pink-colored in all their parts except the golden yellow anthers and 

 stigmas; 9 larger than the J* and on peduncles twice as long. — From China, f 



Order LIX. CUCURBITACE^.— Cucurbits. 



Herbs succulent, creeping or climbing by tendrils. 



tva. alterna!e, palmately-veiiied, rough. Fls. moncecious or polygamous, never blue. 



Cal. 5-toothed. [reticulated veins. 



C(W.— Petals 5, united with each other and cohering to the caly.x, very cellular, strongly marked with 



Sta. 5, distinct, more generally cohering in 3 sets. Antfi. very long and wavy or twisted. 



Ova. inferior, l-eelled, with 3 parietal ptacentee often filling the cells. 



Pr. a pepo or membranous. Seeds flat, with no albumen, often ariled. 



Genera 56, species 270, natives of tropical regions, only a few being found m the temperate zones of 

 Europe and America. A highly important order of plants, affording some of the most delicious and 

 nutritive of fruits. A bitter, la.xative principle pervades the group, which is so concentrated in a few as 

 to render them actively medicinal. The officinal colucyiuh is prepared from the pulp of Cucumis Colo- 

 cynthis, a powerful drastic poison. 



Co7ispect^is of the Genera. 



'i l-seeded. Sicyos. \ 



$ Fruit membranaceous, echinate, ?4-seeded. Echinocystia. 2 



(white. (Friut a pepo with a ligneous, smooth rind. La^e.narla. .6 



i^ Seeds thin at edg^ Cuomnis. 5 



iindehiscent. J Seeiis tlijck at edge Cucurbita. 7 



5 Fruit a pepo, (dehiscing elastically on one side. .... Momvrdica. 4 



yellow. {Fruit a small, oval, many-seeded berry Mtlothria. 3 



1. SICYOS. 



Gr. atKVos, the ancient name of the cucumber. 



Flowers c? . c? Calyx 5-toothed ; corolla rotate, 5-petaled ; stamens 

 5, monadelphous or at length triadelphous ; anthers contorted. 9 

 Calyx 5-toothed, campanulate ; petals 5, united at base into a cam- 

 panulate corolla ; styles 3, united at base ; fruit ovate, membrana- 

 ceous, hispid or eehinate, with 1 large, compressed seed. — ® Climb- 

 ing herbs, with cotnpoimd tendrils. SterU^nd fertile fis. in the same axils. 



S. ANGULATUs. Single-seed Cucvmber. 



St. branching, hairy ; Its. roundish, cordate with an obtuse sinus, 5-angled 

 or 5-lobed, lobes acuminate, denticulate; 9 much smaller than the (j^. — Can. 

 and U. S. A weak, climbing vine, with long, spiral, branching tendrils. Leaves 

 3 — 4' broad, alternate, on long stalks. Flowers whitish, marked with green 

 lines, the barren ones in long-pedunculate racemes. Fruit J' long, ovate, spi- 

 nous, 8 — 10 together in a crowded cluster, each with one large seed. Jl. 



2. ECHINOCYSTIS. Torr. & Gray. 



G?'. c^ivoi, sea urchin, Kvari;, bladdsr; alluding to the spiny, inflated fruit. 



Flowers monoecious. Sterile fi. — Calyx of 6 filiform-subulate seg- 

 ments, shorter than the corolla ; petals 6, united at base into a rotate- 

 campanulate corolla ; stamens 3, diadelphous. Fertile fl. — Cal. and 



