168 CUCURBITACEOUS PLANTS. 



EGYPTIAN CUCUMBER. 

 Hairy Cucumber. Round-leaved Egyptian. Cucumis chate. 



This is a tender, animal plant, with an angular, creeping 

 stem, and alternate, somewhat heart-shaped, leaves. The 

 flowers are axillary, about an inch in diameter, and of a pale 

 yellow color ; the fruit is small, oblong, and very hairy. 



It is of little value as an esculent, and is rarely cultivated. 

 The fruit is sometimes eaten in its green state, and also when 

 cooked. According to Duchesne, the Egyptians prepare 

 from the pulp an agreeable and refreshing beverage. 



Plant and cultivate as directed for melons or cucumbers. 



GLOBE CUCUMBER. 



Concombre des prophetes. Vil. Cucumis prophetarum. 



A tender annual from Arabia. Stem slender, creeping, 

 and furnished with tendrils, or claspers. The leaves are 

 about three inches in diameter, five-lobed, and indented on 

 the borders ; the flowers are axillary, yellow, and nearly 

 three fourths of an inch in diameter ; the fruit is round, 

 and rarely measures an inch in thickness ; skin striped with 

 green and yellow, and thickly set with rigid hairs, or 

 bristles ; the seeds are small, oval, flattened, and of a 

 yellowish color. 



Planting and Culture. The seeds should be planted, at 

 the time of planting cucumbers or melons, in hills four or five 

 feet apart, and covered about half an inch deep. Thin to 

 two or three plants to a hill. 



Use. The fruit is sometimes eaten boiled ; but is gen- 

 erally pickled in its green state, like the common cucumber. 



As a table vegetable, it is comparatively unimportant, and 

 not worthy of cultivation. 



