no SICYOS ANGULATUS. STAR-CUCUMBER. 



slight rounding of the base of the leaf-blade, and the general 

 circular oudine formed by the mass of litde "pepos," as some 

 authors call the fruits of some of these Cuciirbitaceous plants. 

 As the branch departs from its heaviness with its growth, and 

 presents a pleasing curve, its elegance is increased by the 

 slender tendrils gracefully twisting, and gendy decreasing the 

 diameter of their spiral coils till they terminate in a fine silk- 

 like thread. Indeed, for a gradual blending of straight lines 

 wdth curves, of heaviness with lightness, and of strength with 

 elegance, this illustration of the "star-cucumber" can scarcely 

 be surpassed, and will afford an interesting lesson to those to 

 whom beauty is a science. 



Then there are a few points worth noting by those who are 

 interested in the literary history of plants. Our subject seems 

 to have been known to some of the earlier botanists, and Tourne- 

 fort, the predecessor of Linnaeus in the work of botanical reform, 

 placed it in the genus Sicoyoides — meaning, like the cucumber — 

 sicyos (or sycios, according to Nuttall and others) being 

 "cucumber" to the ancient Greeks. Linnaeus established a 

 rule that no adjective terminations should be allowed in generic 

 names, and hence the last part was cut off, leaving Sicyos only. 

 The explanation may be of service, as when the student is simply 

 told that the name "is the ancient name of the cucumber," he 

 would be led to wonder what relation our plant bore to the 

 cucumber of the olden time. Tournefort, In naming it Sicoyoides, 

 had doubdess nothing more In his mind than the great resem- 

 blance which the leaves, stems, and tendrils bore to the common 

 cucumber, a resemblance which is certainly very close. It is not 

 quite clear what was the real cucumber of the ancients. The 

 "lodge, in a garden of cucumbers," of Isaiah and other scrip- 

 tural references, are believed to relate rather to some kind of 

 melon than to our modern cucumber. 



Passing from the foliage to the fruit we find very litde here to 

 remind us of its common family name. Instead of a large number 

 of seeds In a succulent capsule, each litde flower results in a single 



