III.] 



SQUIRTING CUCUMBER. 



The fruit is a small cucumber (Fig. 45), and when 

 ripe it becomes so gorged with fluid that it is in a 

 state of great tension. In this condition a very slight 

 touch is sufficient to detach it from the stalk, when 

 the pressure of the walls ejects the contents, throwing 

 the seed some distance. I have seen them even in 

 this country sent nearly twenty feet; but in a hotter 

 climate the plant grows more vigorously, and they 



FIG. 45. THE SQUIRTING CUCUMBER (Momordica elateriuni). 



would doubtless be thrown further. In this case of 

 course the contents are ejected at the end by which 

 the cucumber is attached to the stalk. If any one 

 touches one of these ripe fruits, they are often thrown 

 with such force as to strike him in the face. 



In Cydanthera, a plant allied to the Cucumber, 

 the fruit is unsymmetrical, one side being round and 

 hairy, the other nearly flat and smooth. The true apex 



