CUCURBITACE^. (GODRD FAMILY.) 195 



5 or usuallij 2^ stamens (i. e., 1 with a l-celled an. I 2 with 2-celk'd anthers) 

 communbj united hy their often tortuous anthers, and sometimes also l>ii the 

 p.laments. Fruit (pepo) Jlesliy, or sometimes membranaceous. — Limb of 

 the calyx and corolla usually more or less couil)ined. Srignias 2 or 3. 

 Seeds large, usually flat, anatropous, -with no alljunicn. Cotyledons leaf- 

 like. Leaves alternate, palmately lobed or veined. — Mostly a tropical 

 or subtropical order ; represented in cultivation by the Gourd (Lage- 

 XARiA vulgaris), Pumpkin and Squash (species of Cucurbita), Musk- 

 melon (CucuMis Melo), Cucumber (C. satIvus), and Watermelon 



(CiTRULLUS vulgaris). 



* Fruit prickly. Seeds few, erect or pendulous Flowers white AnnuaL 

 ■*- Ovary l-celled. Seed solitary, pendulous. 



1. Sicyos. Corolla of the sterile flowers flat and spreading, 5-lobed. Fruit indehiscent. 



-t- -t- Ovary 2-3-CL'lled. Seeds few, erect or ascending. 



2. Echinocystis. Corolla of the sterile flowers flat and spreading, 6-parted. Anthers 3. 



Fruit bladdery, 2.celled, 4-seeded, bursting at the top. 



3. Cyclanthera. Corolla 5-parted Anther 1, annular. Fruit oblique and gibbous^ 



* * Fruit smooth. Seeds numerous, horizontal, attached to the 3-5 parietal placeut*. 



Perennial. 



4. Melothria. Flowers small, greenish ; corolla 5-parted. Slender, climbing. Fruitsmall. 



5. Cucurbita. Flowers large, yellow, tubular-campanulate. Prostrate. Fruit large. 



1. SICYOS, L. One-seeded BuR-CucuMBER. 



Flowers monoecious. Petals 5, united below into a bell-shaped or flattish 

 corolla. Anthers cohering in a mass. Ovary l-celled, with a single suspended 

 ovule ; style slender ; stigmas 3. Fruit ovate, dry and indehiscent, filled by 

 the single seed, covered with barbed prickly bristles which are readily detached. 

 — Climbing annuals, with 3-forked tendrils, and small whitish flowers ; the 

 sterile and fertile mostly from the same axils, the former corymbed, the latter 

 in a capitate cluster, long-peduncled. (Greek name for the Cucumber.) 



1. S. angul^tus, L. Leaves roundish heart-shaped, 5-angled or lobed, 

 the lobes pointed ; plant clammy-hairy. — River-banks, and a weed in damp 

 yards, N. H. and Quebec to Pla., west to Minn., E. Kan., and Tex. July - Sept. 



2. ECHINOCYSTIS, Torr. & Gray. Wild Balsam-apple. 



Flowers monoecious. Petals 6, lanceolate, united at the base into an open 

 spreading corolla. Anthers more or less united. Ovary 2-celled, with 2 erect 

 ovules in each cell ; stigma broad. Fruit fleshy, at length dry, clothed with 

 weak prickles, bursting at the summit, 2-celled, 4-seeded, the inner part fil)rous- 

 netted. Seeds large, flat, with a thickish hard and roughened coat. — Tall 

 climbing annual, nearly smooth, with 3-forked tendrils, thin leaves, and very 

 numerous small greenish-white flowers ; the sterile in compound racemes often 

 1° long, the fertile in small clusters or solitary, from the same axils. (Name 

 composed of ex'^^os, a hedgehog, and kvcttls, a l)ladder, from the prickly fruit.) 



1 E. lobata, Torr. & Gray. Leaves deeply and sharply .5dobed; fruit 

 3val (2' long) ; seeds dark -colored. — Rich soil along rivers, W. Xew Eng and 

 Penn to Minn., E. Kan., and Tex. Also cult, for arbors. July - Oct. 



