252 THE STORY OF PLANT LIFE 



Cma^A LUTETIANA. — The opposite, broad, cordate 

 leaves are shown in Fig. 53, also the flower-stalk with 

 some fruits still remaining, the rest having, perhaps, been 

 broken off, having caught in the wool or fur of animals. 



^^. The White Bryony Group. 



Only one plant is found in the British Isles which 

 is a member of the important Order Cucurbitacese. 



A characteristic of this group is the climbing habit, 

 as seen in the common White Bryony, having tendrils 

 or metamorphosed leaves. There are about six 

 hundred and fifty species and eighty-seven genera, 

 which are cosmopolitan, but the exotic forms are 

 found mainly in the tropical regions. 



The Cucurbitacese include annual or perennial, 

 herbaceous plants. The leaves are alternate, without 

 stipules. The tendrils are simple or branched. 



The flowers are unisexual, rarely hermaphrodite, 

 and usually cymose. They are regular, with parts in 

 fives. The stamens and pistils are in separate flowers 

 on the same plant, when the plant is moncecious, or 

 on different plants, when the plant is dioecious. The 

 calyx is gamosepalous, superior, with five lobes, 

 valvate in bud, and is united with the corolla. There 

 are five petals, inserted on the limb of the calyx, and 

 distinct or united below, valvate or induplicate. The 

 three or five stamens are more or less united, or 

 distinct. The anthers are adnate to their filaments. 

 They open inwards, and are one- or two-celled. The 



