118 CUCURBITACE^E. 



1. SICYOS. Linn Single-seeded Cucumber. 

 (From the Greek CIKVOS, cucumber.) 



Flowers monoecious. STERILE FL. Calyx 5-toothed; teeth 

 subulate or minute. Petals 5, all cohering in a tube, at length 

 separating into three parcels. FERTILE FL. Calyx constricted 

 above the ovary, campanulate. Corolla campanulate. Style 

 rather slender. Stigmas 3, thick, obtuse, spreading. Fruit 

 ovate, spiny or hispid, 1 -seeded. 



(S 1 . angulatus Linn. : leaves roundish-cordate, 5-angled, toothed, sca- 

 brous ; lobes acuminate ; tendrils umbellate ; sterile flowers corymbose- 

 capitate, with the common peduncle long ; fertile ones sessile on a much 

 shorter peduncle. 



Banks of streams. Can. to Car. W. to Miss. June. (J). A procumbent 

 vine, climbing by 3 5-cleft tendrils. Flowers greenish-white, the fertile nol half 

 the size of the sterile ones. Fruit small, ovate, prickly. 



Common Single-seeded Cucumber. 



2. ECHINOCYSTIS. Torr. fy Or. Wild Balsam Apple. 



(From the Greek sx tv Si prickly, and KVSTIS a bladder; in allusion to the ap- 

 pearance of the fruit.) 



Flowers monoecious. Calyx flattish ; segments 6, filiform- 

 subulate. Corolla 6 -parted, rotate, campanulate. STERILE FL. 

 Calyx slightly contracted above the ovary. Stamens 3, dia- 

 delphous, short. FERTILE FL. Abortive filaments 3, very 

 small, distinct. Style very short. Stigmas 2, broadly ob- 

 cordate. Fruit globose-ovoid, bristly- echinate, 2-celled, 4- 

 seeded. 



E. lobata Torr. <$ Gr. : Momordica echinata Muhl. Sicyos angulata 

 Mich. 



Banks of streams. Can. N. Y. and Penn. W. to Miss. July, Aug. (). 

 Stem smooth, 10 15 feet long, climbing. Leaves large, nearly smooth, with 5 

 deep acuminate sharply denticulate lobee. Flowers white ; the sterile in long 

 compound racemes ; the fertile solitary, or 2 or 3 together. Fruit about as large 

 as a pigeon's egg, covered with short bristly spines. Wild Balsam Apple. 



3. MELOTHRIA. Linn. Creeping Cucumber. 

 Flowers polygamous or monoecious. STERILE FL. Calyx 

 3 5-toothed. Corolla campanulate. Filaments 5, in 3 sets. 

 FERTILE FL. Calyx and corolla as in the sterile. Style 1. 

 Stigmas 3, fimbriate. Fruit 3-celled, many-seeded. 



M. pendula Linn. : leaves somewhat reniform, lobed and angled, slightly 

 hispid fruit oval, smooth, pendulous. 



Banks of streams. Penn. to Ala. and Lotus. June. (J). A slender vine 

 running over small shrubs and herbs. Stem hairy. Leaves on petioles. Ten- 



