CUCURBITACEAE GOURD FAMILY 



751 



Fig. 438. Muskmelon (Cucumis Melo). 

 A part of a plant of the common melon. 

 (W. S. Dudgeon). 



Fig. 439. Pistillate flower of cu- 

 cumber (Cucumis). a, sepal; b. 

 petal; c, pistil; d, stigma; e, style; 

 f, ovary. (Pieters, U. S. Dept. 

 Agr.). 



American origin. The hubbard squash is a well known representative of the 

 species and is used in various food preparations. Other species like cushaw 

 (C. moschata') are also cultivated. The Missouri gourd (C. foetidissima), with 

 a large root, sometimes a foot in diameter, occurs from Nebraska to Texas. 

 The wild cucumber or wild balsam apple (Echinocystis lobata) is frequently 

 used as a climber and is sometimes weedy. The star cucumber (Sicyos an- 

 gulatus) is used in a similar way. The cocoon antidote, (Feuillea cordifolia) , 

 a native of Jamaica, has seeds which are used as a cure for snake bites and as 

 an antidote against Entada scandens. They also contain an oil. The seeds of 

 Tefaria pedata, a native of the East coast of Africa and Zanzibar, contain an 

 excellent oil. The bryony of Europe (Bryoiiia dioica) is a climbing plant pro- 

 ducing a pretty colored fruit. It is a drastic purgative and is poisonous. It 

 contains the alkaloid bryonicin C 10 H 17 NO , and the root of Bryonia alba con- 

 tains the gluco&ide bryonin C 62 H 98 O 31 . Dr. Halsted states that a friend of 

 his has been repeatedly poisoned by handling the star cucumber (Sicyos angu- 

 lata). Friedberger and Frohner state that poisoning has occurred from Cucur- 

 bits. Pepo, causing symptoms of dullness and in some cases the animals showed 

 excitement. Major Kirtikar says that the pulp of a cucurbitaceous plant of 

 India, Trichosanthes palmata, a perennial herb, is used in India to poison cattle, 

 and that the T. cucumerina also of that country is an emetic and a drastic pur- 

 gative. Echinocystis macrocarpa, according to Trimble and Sayre contains a 

 glucoside. The marimbo or dipper gourd (Lagenaria vulgaris) yields gourds 

 which are edible when small. 



LOBEIJACEAE. Lobelia Family 



Herbs with acrid milky juice; leaves alternate; flowers perfect, irregular, 

 5-lobed; gamopetalous corolla; stamens 5, free from the corolla, united into a 

 tube ; stamens monadelphous and syngenesious ; flowers proterandrous, the 

 stigma of the single style often fringed with hairs ; fruit a capsule with numer- 

 ous small seeds ; embryo minute and straight. 



