cucurbitace^e. (gourd family.; 139 



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 small whitish flowers ; the sterile and fertile mostly 

 from the same axils, the former corymbed, the latter in a capitate cluster, long- 

 peduncled. (The Greek name for the Cucumber.) 



1. S. aiiglllattlS, L. Leaves roundish-heart-shaped and 5-angled or 

 lobed, the lobes pointed ; plant beset with clammy hairs. — River-banks. July - 

 Sept. 



2. ECHIi\OC¥STIS, Torr. & Gray. Wi ld Bals am-apple. 



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

 spreading corolla. Stamens 3, separable into 2 sets. Ovary 2-celled, witli 2 

 erect ovules in each cell : stigma broad. Fruit large, ovoid, fleshy, at length 

 dry, clothed with weak prickles, bursting at the summit, 2-celled, 4-seeded, the 

 inner part fibrous-netted. Seeds large, obovatc -oblong. — An annual, rank, and 

 tall-climbing plant, nearly smooth, with deeply and sharply 5-lobcd thin leaves, 

 and very numerous small greenish-white flowers ; the sterile in compound ra- 

 cemes often 1° long, the fruitful in small clusters or solitary, from the same 

 axils. (Name composed of e^'wr, a liedgehog, and kv<ttis, a bladder, from the 

 prickly covering of the at length bladdery fruit.) 



1. E. lobata, Torr. & Gr. (Sicyos, Michx. Momordica echinata, Muhl.) 



— Rich soil along river-, W. New England to Wisconsin and Kentucky. July- 

 Oct. — Fruit 2' long. 



3. MEL, 6 TUB I A, L. Melotheia. 



Flowers polygamous or monoecious ; the sterile campanulate, the corolla 5- 

 lobcd ; the fertile with the calyx-tube constricted above the ovary, then campan- 

 ulate. Anthers 3 or 5, more or less united. Berry fleshy, filled with many flat 

 and horizontal seeds. — Tendrils simple. Flowers very small. (Altered from 

 t/lrjkadpov, an ancient name for a sort of white grape.) 



1. M. fK*M<lllla, L. Slender, climbing ; leaves small, roundish and 

 heart-shaped, 5-angled or lobed, roughish ; sterile flowers lew in small racemes ; 

 the fertile solitary, greenish, or yellowish; berry oval (\'-V long), green. 1J. 



— Copses, Virginia and southward. June -Aug. 



Cucumis sativus, the Cucumber; C. Melo, the 1 I o sic melon, C. Ci- 

 trullus, the Watermelon; Cucurbita Pepo, the Pumpkin, C. Melo- 

 pepo, the Round Squash ; C. verrucosa, the Long Squash ; C. aurAn- 

 tia, the Orange Gourd; and Lagenaria vulgaris, the Bottle Gourd, 

 are the most familiar cultivated representatives of this family. 



Order 49. CRASSULACE^. (Orpine Family.) 



Succulent herbs, with perfectly symmetrical jloicers ; viz. the petals and 

 pistils equalling the sepals in number (3 - 20), and the stamens the same or 

 double their number. — Sepals persistent, more or less united at the base. 



