Z53 



CUCUMITES. 



CUCURBITACE.E. 



254 



C. Citrulliu, the Water-Melon. Its deeply-lobed and gashed 

 leaves, and its round fruit, with a spotted rind and a cold watery 

 pink or white flesh, in which lie a number of black seeds, sufficiently 

 mark this species, which is most extensively cultivated all over India 

 and the tropics of Africa and America, and generally in hot countries, 

 but which is of no value in the north of Europe, where high flavour 

 is required more than cooling properties. This plant serves both for 

 food, drink, and physic to the Egyptians. It is eaten in abundance 

 during the season, which is from May to July. It is the only medi- 

 cine the common people use in ardent fevers : it is gathered when 

 ripe or almost decaying ; the juice is expressed, and mixed with sugar 

 and rose-water. It is generally considered to be the Melon of the 

 Jews mentioned in many parts of the Bible. 



The other species are of little moment compared with the pre- 

 ceding ; many are eatable, but they are in all respects inferior in quality 

 and size. C. Dudaitn is sometimes grown under the name of Queen 

 Anne's Pocket Melon, but it is a mere curiosity. 



CUCUMITES, a genus of Fossil Plants, from Sheppey. (Bower- 

 bank.) 



CUCURBIT A, a genus of Plants belonging to the natural order 

 C'wurbitacea. It has monoecious flowers; a campanulate yellow 

 corolla, the petals joined together and to the calyx. In the male 

 flowers the calyx is hemispherically campanulate. The stamens 5, in 

 three bundles, or joined at the apex ; anthers abruptly curved both 

 at the base and the apex, the rest straight and parallel. In the 

 female flowers the calyx is obovate clavate, narrowed towards the 

 top or campanulate, and always circumcised under the limb after 

 flowering ; the anthers usually sterile ; stigmas 3, thickish, and 

 2-lobed ; fruit 3-5-celled ; seeds ovate, compressed, with hardly tumid 

 margins. 



C. maxima, the Common Large Gourd, has cordate leaves, very 

 nigged hispid petioles ; the tube of the calyx obovate, ending in a 

 short neck ; fruit globose, somewhat depressed, yellow, red, or green. 

 The native country of this common plant, as well as that of its many 

 varieties, is unknown. 



C. Melopepo, Squash Gourd, has cordate obtuse leaves, somewhat 

 5-lobed ; denticulated tendrils, usually transformed into very imper- 

 fect leaves ; the calyx hemispherically campanulate, short, having the 

 throat much dilated ; the fruit depressed ; carpels irregular, rising 

 beyond the throat of the calyx ; the flesh dry, spongy, and white. 

 The fruit is flattened at both ends. It is of great use in long voyages, 

 for it can be kept for several months in a fresh state, and is commonly 

 made into pies like the pumpkin, or boiled and eaten with meat 

 instead of turnips or potatoes. 



C. Pepo, Pumpkin, has cordate obtuse leaves, somewhat 5-lobed, 

 denticulated, the calyx ending in a neck beneath the limb ; fruit 

 roundish or oblong, and smooth. It is a native of the Levant. This 

 is the Melon or Millon of the early horticulturists, the true melon 

 being formerly distinguished by the name of Musk-Melon. Though 

 often grown in gardens for curiosity, it is cultivated in many country 

 villages in England on dunghills, with the shoots trained a great 

 length on the grass. When the fruit is ripe a hole is often cut in the 

 side, the seeds taken out, and the space filled with apples, sugar, and 

 spice ; the whole being baked is then eaten with butter. On the 

 Continent the fruit is a good deal used in soups, and also stewed or 

 fried in oil and butter. Pumpkin pie is also very common in many 

 parts of the world. There are various receipts given in cookery-books 

 for dressing this fruit so as to render it a palatable and wholesome 

 article of diet. 



C. aurantia, the Orange-Gourd, is rather more tender than the 

 other species. Its native country is unknown. It has hitherto only 

 been cultivated for curiosity. When trained spirally round a pole or 

 against a wall, and loaded with yellow fruit, it is very ornamental. 



C. oviftra, Egg-Bearing Gourd, or Vegetable Marrow, has cordate 

 angular leaves, 5-lobed, denticulated, pubescent ; the calyx obovate, 

 ending in a short neck, and cut round after flowering to the neck. It 

 is a native of Astrakhan. The herb and flowers are very like those of 

 C. Pepo, but less scabrous. This fruit is useful for culinary purposes 

 in every stage of its growth. When young it is good fried with butter ; 

 when larger, or about half grown, it is excellent either plain boiled or 

 stewed with a rich sauce ; in either case it should be cut in slices. 

 The flesh has a peculiar tenderness or softness, from which circum- 

 stance it received its name ; and this property remains till it is almost 

 fully grown, when it is used for pies. 



C. Lagenaria, Common Bottle-Gourd (Lagenariavulyaritof Seringe), 

 is a musky -scented plant clothed with soft pubescence; the stems 

 climbing; tendrils 3- 4-cleft ; leaves cordate, nearly entire; the flowers 

 monoecious, stellate, spreading much in fascicles; the fruit is pubes- 

 cent, but when mature quite smooth ; the flesh white and edible. It 

 is a native within the tropics. The fruit is shaped like a bottle ; 

 when ripe of a pale yellow colour ; some nearly six feet long, with a 

 roundish bottom and a neck ; the rind becomes hard, and when dried 

 is capable of containing water. It is then of a pale bay colour. It is 

 very important that these bottles should be well and repeatedly washed 

 out, so as to remove all traces of a bitter principle in which they 

 abound, which is poisonous. It is said that a sailor was poisoned some 

 yeT8 since by drinking beer out of one of these bottles which had 

 been improperly prepared. Professor Royle also mentions, upon good 



atithority, that cases of poisoning have occurred from eating the bitter 

 pulp of this plant, in which the symptoms were those of cholera. 



There are about nineteen species of this genus : they are propa- 

 gated from seeds. 



CUCURBITA'CE^E, Cucurlik, the Cucumber Tribe, a natural 

 order of Plants. It consists of climbing or trailing species with 

 unisexual flowers, scabrous stems and leaves, a lobed foliage, and a 

 more or less pulpy fruit with parietal placentae. Nearly all the species 

 climb by means of tendrils. The greater part consists of annuals, 

 either wholly, or in so far as their steins at least. The petals are 

 deeply veined, and usually either yellow, white, or green. 



The order abounds in useful or remarkable plants, comprehending 

 as it does the Melon, Gourd, Cucumber, Colocynth, Bryony, and all 

 the many species approaching those types. Professor Royle, in his 

 valuable ' Illustrations,' remarks that " they are chiefly remarkable 

 for the power of adapting themselves to the different situations where 

 they may be grown. Thus we hear of their affording large and juicy 

 fruit in the midst of the Indian Desert, where water is 300 feet from 

 the surface (Elphinstone) ; and they are equally grown in the dry 

 season on the sandy islands of Indian rivers ; but excess of moisture 

 does not appear to be injurious, as the great majority are successfully 

 cultivated in the rainy season ; and Mr. Moorcroft describes an exten- 

 sive cultivation of Melons and Cucumbers on the beds of weeds which 

 float on the lakes of Cashmere ; they are similarly cultivated in Persia 

 and in China. (' Hort. Trans.,' 2nd ser.. vol. i. p. 468, and Staunton's 

 ' Embassy.') Being chiefly annuals which a few months suffice to bring 

 to perfection, we find them succeeding in the summer temperature of 

 northern climates, and thus extending from the line to 55 or 60 of 

 northern latitude, and southwards to the Cape of Good Hope. Some 

 of the species may be seen in the most arid places ; others in the densest 

 jungles. Planted at the foot of a tree, they emulate the vine in 

 ascending its branches ; and near a hut they soon cover its thatch 

 with a coating of green. They form a principal portion of the culture 

 of Indian gardens : the farmer even rears them in the neighbourhood 

 of his wells." 



The affinities of this order are with Datitcacciz and Seyoniacea;. 

 There are 56 genera and above 270 species. 



jlfomnrdfrtt Jtalsarnina. 

 1, a uterilc flower ; 2, a fertile flower ; 3, a section of a need ; 4, the embryo. 



Two principles especially deserve attention in this order ; the one 

 saccharine and nutritious, the other bitter, acrid, and purgative ; and 

 the qualities of the products of the species vary according to the 

 preponderance of the one or the other. In the Melon, the Gourd, and 

 their allies, the first exists almost exclusively, and hence the edible 

 nature of their fruit ; but even here its well-known laxative quality 

 sufficiently attests the presence of the bitter principle in some degree. 

 In the Colocynth, the Bottle-Gourd, various species of Luffa, Bryony, 



