ioo CALYCIFLOR.E 



Natural Order XXX 



CUCURBITACE^E. The Gourd Tribe 



Stamens and pistils in separate flowers, either on the same plant 

 (monoecious) or on different plants (dioecious) ; calyx 5-toothed, 

 united with the corolla ; corolla often scarcely to be distinguished 

 from the calyx ; stamens 5, more or less united ; anthers twisted ; 

 ovary imperfectly 3-celled ; style short ; stigmas short, thick, lobed, 

 velvety ; fruit more or less juicy ; seeds flat, wrapped in a skin. A 

 large and important Order, containing herbaceous plants, with juicy 

 stems, and climbing by means of tendrils, which spring from the 

 base of the leaf-stalks. The leaves are usually lobed and rough ; 

 the flowers often large, white, red, or yellow ; the fruit juicy or 

 fleshy. They inhabit principally the hot regions of the globe, but 

 a few are found in temperate climates ; and a great number are 

 cultivated in Europe, either for ornament 01 use. Their properties 

 are in many instances exceedingly violent, of which the common 

 drug Colocynth affords an example ; the Bottle Gourd is another, 

 it being recorded that some sailors were poisoned by drinking beer 

 that had been standing in a flask made of one of these gourds. The 

 poisonous plant mentioned in 2 Kings iv. 39-40 is supposed to be a 

 plant of this tribe, the Wild, or Ass Cucumber, which bears an oval 

 fruit of a very bitter taste, and grows in sandy desert places. As 

 this cucumber has very much the same appearance as that which 

 is cultivated in gardens, but only somewhat smaller, and as even its 

 leaves and tendrils are similar, it might easily happen that a man 

 sent out by the disciples of the prophets took wild cucumbers for a 

 harmless fruit and prepared a meal of them. But the bitterness of 

 the boiled cucumber made those who tasted it fear that it was 

 poisonous, the opinion being general with the Hebrews that a bitter 

 taste indicated the presence of poison (see Rev. vm. to, ii). The 

 only plant belonging to this tribe, which is a native of Britain, 

 Bryonia dioica (White Bryony), partakes of the properties of Colo- 

 cynth, and the root is said to be a valuable medicine. The Spirting 

 Cucumber, so called from the force with which it expels the poison- 

 ous juice, together with the seeds, when ripe, is a very dangerous 

 drug, a few grains of Elaterium, a prepared form of this juice, having 

 been known to bring on symptoms of poisoning. A case is even re- 

 corded where a person was taken dangerously ill from having 

 merely carried a specimen in hir hat. Many species, however, pro- 

 duce edible fruit ; for instance, the numerous varieties of Melon 

 and Cucumber, the Water Melon, so highly esteemed for the cool, 

 refreshing juice of its ripe fruit, anc' one of our finest table vege- 

 tables, the Vegetable Marrow. It is said that the tender shoots of 

 the White Bryony may be used with safety, having been boiled, 

 and that they resemble Asparagus in flavour ; but it is highlv pro- 



