SICYOS ANGULATUS, STAR-CUCUMBEK. Ill 



seed, surrounded, finally, by a diin, dry covering. Each of the 

 litde "cucumbers" we see in our cluster is indeed nearly all 

 seed. It is from the somewhat stellate appearance of this 

 cluster of seed vessels that the common name of star-cucumber 

 is derived. It is sometimes called "single-seeded cucumber," for 

 reasons already made obvious. Alton says it is commonly called 

 " Cho-cho vine ; " but this is probably an error, the name 

 belonging to the SecJiiiim eciide, a plant of the same natural 

 order growing in the West Indies. 



One of the most remarkable incidents in the life of the star- 

 cucumber is its amazing growth under favorable circumstances. 

 Dr. John M. Coulter, at page 72 of first volume of the "Botanical 

 Gazette," speaking of the Lower Wabash, in Indiana, says: 

 " These low rich bottoms have yielded such monsters in growth, 

 especially among the climbers, that one is reminded of a South 

 American jungle," and among these climbers refers especially to 

 the " single-seeded cucumber, Sicyos angidatus, matting all bushes 

 and vegetadon within ten feet of its root into a thicket, or 

 climbing up a neighboring tree to the distance of sixty-three 

 feet." 



Dr. Darlington, in his "Flora Cestrica," notes that "this 

 cucumber-like vine has found its way into some gardens, where 

 it is something of a nuisance, and rather difficult to be got rid 

 of," though the amiable old botanist did not seem to have a 

 heart to include it among the farm evils in his "Agricultural 

 Botany." But Dr. Michener, in his " Manual of Weeds," has less 

 tenderness for the beautiful vine. He says it is "an unwelcome 

 vagrant from the gardens, which requires to be closely watched, 

 wherever it may occur." The writer of this has often watched 

 it, but not as an " unwelcome vagrant," or as a vagrant in any 

 case. It loves to grow about old wood-piles, or in any place 

 where there is an abundance of decaying vegetable matter; and 

 it often does loving service in covering up the remains of old 

 carts or farm implements that are too often left in most unsightly 

 condidons about farm buildings. It is indeed pleasant to watch 



