CuCURBITALES.] 



CUCURBITACE^. 



313 



The anther lobes of the Order are occasionally not sinuous, and in a few cases 

 the ripe fruit opens by valves at the point. 



The placentation of this Order has needlessly perplexed many Botanists, who 

 have supposed that it is essentially different from that which prevails in other 

 plants. The notion of De Candolle and others has been that m Cucurbits the car- 

 pellary leaves are not curved inwards, but outwards, their midrib being in the axis, 

 not circumference, of the fruit. This view has lately been advocated by Dr. Wight in 

 his Illustrations of Indian Botany and elsewhere ; and seems to have been taken from 

 the pecuUar appearance of such fruits as the Cucumber when cut transversely ; in 

 which case the placentae do certainly 



appear as if they were out of their or- 



dinary position ; but if the fruit of these 

 plants is examined closely enough it is 

 evident that the illusion arises from 

 3 parietal placentae, M-ith revolute seed- 

 bearing edges projecting forward into 

 the cavity, where they adhere. In the 

 garden Cucumber, for example, when 

 half an inch long, the placentae are exactly 

 as in this cut, (ccxviii. fig. l)and have no 

 adhesion. There is, therefore, no ground 

 for regarding the Cucurbitaceous struc- 

 ture at variance with general iniles. 

 There is, however, a great pecuUarity in 

 the finiit of some of them, such as Luffa 

 foetida, which, when ripe, appears to con- 

 sist of horizontal fibres forming a singu- 

 lar entangled mass ; these are visible in 

 the young ovary in the form of semi- 

 ti'ansparent concentrical lines which take 

 a somewhat perpendicular du'ection in 

 the placentae ; thus apparently proving 

 that part to be a portion of the carpellary 

 leaves and not an independent part 

 of the axis, as Schleiden's theory would 

 suggest.' 



Natives of hot countries in both he- 

 mispheres, chiefly within the tropics ; a 

 few are foimd to the north in Europe and 

 North America, and several are natives 

 of the Cape of Good Hope. India appears 

 to be their favoui'ite station ; a good 

 many occur in Peru and Brazil, but are 

 little known ; one is foimd ia Norfolk 

 Island, and they ai"e met with in Australia. 



Those which are annuals readily submit to the climate of northern latitudes during 

 the summer, and hence, although mostly of tropical origin, they are common in Euro- 

 pean gardens. 



I borrow the folloAving account of the properties of these plants, with some altera- 

 tions and additions, from Dr. Wight's very useful Illustrations of Indian Botany. 

 Although we best know the Cucurbits by their use as eatable fruits, the Melon, 

 Cucumber, Vegetable Marrow, and similar plants bemg the common species, yet acri- 

 mony and a drastic tendency pervade many species, the fruits of some of which afford 

 cathartics of remarkable power, acting, in even small doses, with great energy on nearly 

 the whole line of the alimentary canal. Generally speaking, however, this mtensity of 

 power is of I'are occm'rence, though the property is found more or less active ui every 

 part of the plant ; mildly in the roots of some and the leaves and young shoots of 

 others, but in greatest intensity in the pulp siuTounding the seed. The seeds themselves 

 do not partake of the property, being, in nearly all, mild and oily. There is reason to 

 beUeve that some at least, if not all the edible sorts, owe their freedom from poisonous 

 properties to cultivation, for some in the wild state are fovmd to possess them m much 

 activity. The Lagenaria vulgai'is, or Bottle Gom-d, may be cited as an example of this, 

 it being recorded that some sailors were poisoned by drinking beer that had been 

 standing m a flask made of one of those Gourds ; and Dr. Royle mentions a somewhat 



Fig.— CCXVIII. -1. a section of a very young Cucumber, long before the expansion of the flower ; 2. 

 the same at a period subsequent to the setting of the fruit. 



Fig. CCXVIII. 



