542 CUCURBITACEiE. Momordica. 



Banks of rivers, Canada (Michaux) and New York! to Alabama! and 

 Arkansas ! June-Sept. — Peduncles of the sterile flowers at length 4-8 

 inches long; that of the (very much smaller) fertile flowers 1-2 inches long. 

 Fruit clustered. 



2. S. Oreganus : slightly pubescent ; leaves roundish-cordate, 7-9-angled 

 or somewhat lobed, with as many primary veins arising from the apex of the 

 petiole, denticulate, the angles or lobes acuminate ; tendrils 3-cleft ; sterile 

 flowers loosely racemose on a very long peduncle, or partly on slender pedi- 

 cels clustered in the axils ; petals ovate-lanceolate ; style very short. — S. 

 angulatus. Hook. ! fl. Bor.-Am. 1. p. 220, (partly.) 



On the Oregon from near its mouth to Kettle Falls, Dr. Scouler ! Douglas, 

 Mr. Tolmie ! — We have not seen the fruit, and our specimens furnish only 

 one or two fertile flowers, which are on simple pedicels in the axils (although 

 others are probably clustered), and in these ^the ovary is scarcely pubescent 

 and not hispid. 



4. ECHINOCYSTIS. 



Flowers monoecious. Calyx flattish, in the fertile flowers slightly con- 

 tracted above the ovary ; the segments 6, filiform-subulate, shorter than the 

 corolla. Petals 6, lanceolate, united at the base into a rotate-campanulate 

 corolla. Sterile Fl. Stamens 3, diadelphous, arising from the base of 

 the calyx: filaments short: anthers sigmoid, connate. Fertile Fl. Abor- 

 tive filaments 3, very small, distinct. Style very short : stigmas 2, large, 

 broadly obcordate, connivent. Fruit somewhat globose, inflated, setose- 

 echinate, membranaceous, at first watery (bursting elastically at the sum- 

 mit ?), at length dry, 2-celled, 4-seeded ; the cells spuriously 2-celled at the 

 base ; the 2 carpels at length separable, reticulate-fibrous. Seeds large, 

 not arillate, erect from near the base of each spurious cell, obovate-oblong, 

 flat, slightly 2-toothed at the base, the margins obtuse. — An annual climb- 

 ing herb, with palmately 5-lobed leaves, and 3-cleft tendrils. Flowers 

 small, greenish-white; the sterile in long compound racemes; the fertile 

 ones from the same axils, solitary or clustered on a short peduncle. 



E. lobata.—Sicyos lobata, Michx. ! fl. 2. ^o. 217. Momordica echinata, 

 Muhl. ! in Willd. spec. 4. p. 605; Pursh,fl. 2. p. 444 ; DC. prodr. 3. p. 

 312 ,• Hook. fl. Bor.-Am. 1. p. 220. 



Rich soil along streams, Canada ! (from the Saskatchawan) to New York! 

 Pennsylvania ! and Missouri. July-Sept.— A nearly glabrous vine, climb- 

 ing over small shrubs. Leaves membranaceous, mucronately denticulate ; 

 the lobes triangular, acuminate-mucronate. Sterile racemes often a foot 

 long. Mature "fruit nearly 2 inches in length, armed with weak prickles. 

 Seeds three-fourths of an inch long, neariy smooth and even.— A very dis- 

 tinct genus, more nearly allied to Sicyos than to Momordica. 



5. MOMORDICA. Linn. ; .Juss. gen. p. 395 ; Gtsrtn. fr. t. 88. 



Flowers monoecious or sometimes dioecious. Calyx 5-cleft ; the tube very 

 short. Petals 5, united at the base. Sterile Fl. Stamens 5, triadel- 

 phous : anthers connate. Fertile Fl. Style 3-cleft. Pepo fleshy, 

 usually muricate and bursting elastically when mature. Seeds enveloped 



