224 CUCURBITACE^. 



spikes. This can scarcely be considered a native of 

 Britain, occurring only in a few places on the south- western 

 coast, and everywhere appearing to have been planted. 

 See "Forest Trees of Britain." FL July. Shrub. 



ORD. XXXIL CUCUKBITACE.E. THE GOURD 

 TRIBE. 



Stamens and pistils in separate flowers, either on the 

 same plant (Monoecious) or on different plants (Dioe- 

 cious) :, calyx 5-toothed, united with the corolla ; corolla 

 often scarcely to be distinguished from the calyx ; sta- 

 mens 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, wrap- 

 ped in a skin. -A large and important Order, contain- 

 ing herbaceous plants with juicy stems, and climbing 

 by means of tendrils, which arise 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 or use. Their properties are in 

 many instances exceedingly violent, of which the com- 

 mon 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 and desert places. As this cucumber has very 

 much the same appearance as that which is cultivated 

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

 its leaves and tendrils are similar, it might easily hap- 

 pen that the man sent out by the disciples of the pro- 

 phets took wild Cucumbers for a harmless fruit, and 



