28 



CUCURBITACE^E. IV. CUCUMIS. V. LUKFA. 



nom.) stems rather filiform, cirrhiferous ; leaves palmately-si- 

 nuated, cordate at the base, scabrous ; flowers usually solitary, 

 size of those of Brydnia dioica ; fruit globose, echinated, white. 

 0. F. Native of Jamaica. C. echinatus, Moench, meth. p. 

 654. Mill. icon. t. 33. Pluk. phyt. t. 170. f. 3. Very like 

 C. prophelai~um. The fruit of this kind of cucumber is eaten 

 when green by the inhabitants of the West India Islands ; 

 but these are far inferior to our common cucumber. The 

 fruit seldom grows so large as a pullet's egg, and is shaped 

 like it ; and the rind is closely beset with blunt prickles. It 

 is frequently used in the sugar islands with other herbs in 

 soups, and is esteemed an agreeable and wholesome ingredient 

 in them, ayyovpiov, angourion, one of the Greek names of the 

 cucumber ; hence the specific name. 



Anguria or Round Prickly-fruited Cucumber. Fl. June, Aug. 

 Clt. 1692. PI. tr. 



15 C. CITRIJ'LLUS (Ser. mss. in D. C. prod. 3. p. 301.) plant 

 very pilose ; stems trailing, cirrhiferous ; leaves bluntly pinnate, 

 or many-parted, rather glaucous ; flowers solitary, each fur- 

 nished with one oblong bractea ; fruit nearly globose, gla- 

 brous, with starry spots. Q. F. Native of tropical Africa 

 and the East Indies. Cucurbita citrullus, Lin. spec. 1435. Cu- 

 curbita anguria, Duchesn. in Lam. diet. 2. p. 158 Black w. 

 herb. t. 157 Lob. stirp. t. 36). f. 2. Park. Theatr. 771. f. 

 772. Rumph. amb. 5. t. 146. f. 1. Samanka of the Hindoos. 



Var. a, Pasteca (Ser. 1. c.) flesh of fruit firm, yellow, but not 

 very watery. This is the Yellow -fleshed Water Melon of the 

 English, and the Pasteque of the French. 



Var. ft, Jace (Ser. 1. c.) flesh very watery, reddish. This is 

 the Red-fleshed Water Melon of the English, Melon d'eau of the 

 French, and the Jace of the Brazilians. 



The water-melon is called wasser-melon in Germany, and coco- 

 mero in Italy. The plant serves both for food, drink, and physic 

 to the Egyptians. The fruit is eaten in abundance during the 

 season, which is from the beginning of May until the overflowing 

 of the Nile, that is, to the end of July. It is the only medicine 

 the common people use in ardent fevers : when it is ripe or 

 almost putrid, they collect the juice, and mix it with rose-water 

 and a little sugar. The fruit should be eaten cautiously by 

 Europeans, especially when taken in the heat of the day ; but it 

 is much used within the tropics, and in Italy. The fruit is large, 

 green externally, white fleshed, reddish towards the centre, juicy, 

 and refreshing, but not high flavoured. It is generally considered 

 the melon of the Jews, mentioned in various parts of the Bible. 

 It requires nearly the same treatment as the common melon, 

 but a larger frame to admit its more extended shoots to spread 

 themselves. 



Citrul or Water Melon. Fl. May, Sep. Clt. 1597. PI. tr. 



16 C. MURICA'TUS (Willd. spec. 4. p. 613.) leaves cordate and 

 angular, rather hoary ; angles rounded ; fruit cylindrical, muri- 

 cated ; male flowers aggregate, nearly sessile ; female ones soli- 

 tary. O- F. Native of Tranquebar. 



Warted Cucumber. Fl. June, Aug. Clt. 1817. Pl.tr. 



17 C. MEGACA'RPUS ; leaves palmate ; fruit long, ovate, very 

 full of anastomosing fibres, which look like net-work when the 

 fruit is dried up. F. Native of Sierra Leone. 



Large-fruited Cucumber. PL tr. 



18 C. PUBE'SCENS (Willd. 1. c. p. 614.) leaves cordate, rather 

 angular, acutish, sharply toothed, scabrous : fruit, elliptic, ob- 

 tuse, pubescent, green, painted with more obscure narrow 

 stripes. Q. F. Native country unknown. Fruit 3 inches 

 long, elliptic, and an inch thick, obtuse at both ends, covered 

 with fine down. 



Downy Cucumber. Fl. July, Sep. Clt. 1815. Pl.tr. 



19 C. MACULA'TUS (Willd spec. 4. p. 614.) leaves cordate, 

 obsoletely angular, roundly obtuse, denticulated, scabrous ; fruit 



elliptic, narrow at the base, glabrous, when young painted with 

 broad green stripes ; but when mature, white, variegated with 

 green spots ; connectives much longer than the anthers. () F. 

 Native of Guinea. Fruit smooth. Ser. diss. 1. c. t. 3. 

 Spotted Cucumber. Fl. June, Aug. Clt. 1820. Pl.tr. 



20 C. COLOCY'NTHIS (Lin. spec. 1435.) stems trailing, rather 

 hispid ; leaves cordate-ovate, multifidly lobed, covered with 

 white pili beneath ; lobes obtuse ; petioles equalling the limb of 

 the leaf; tendrils short ; flowers axillary, solitary, pedunculate ; 

 female ones having the tube of the calyx globose, and rather his- 

 pid, crowned by a spreading campanulate limb, and narrow seg- 

 ments ; petals small ; fruit globose, glabrous, yellowish at 

 maturity, with a thin solid rind, and very bitter flesh. 0. F. 

 Native of Japan and Turkey. Black w. herb. t. 441. Sabb. hort. 

 1. t. 70. Mor. hist. sect. 1. 1. 6. f. 1. Fruit about the size of 

 an orange. The colocynth is a native of Turkey. The fruit is 

 about the size of an orange ; its medullary part, freed from the 

 rind and seeds, is alone made use of in medicine ; this is very 

 light, white, spongy, composed of membranous plates, of an ex- 

 tremely bitter, nauseous, acrimonious taste. The fruit is ga- 

 thered in autumn, when it begins to turn yellow, and is then 

 peeled and dried quickly, either in a stove or in the sun. New- 

 mann got from 7680 parts, 1680 alcoholic extract, and then 

 2160 watery ; and inversely 3600 watery, and 224 alcoholic. 

 The seeds are perfectly bland, and highly nutritious ; and we 

 learn from Captain Lyon, that they constitute an important 

 article of food in Northern Africa. The extract of colocynth is 

 one of the most powerful and useful of cathartics, but there is 

 no more efficacious way of lessening its violence than by re- 

 ducing its dose. 



Colocynth or Bitter Cucumber. Fl. May, Aug. Clt. 1551. 

 PI. tr. " 



21 C. CAMPECHIA'NUS (H. B. et Kunth, nov. gen. amer. 2. p. 

 123.) stem cirrhiferous ; leaves cordate-roundish, sinuately 5- 

 lobed, toothed ; lobes rounded, intermediate one the largest ; 

 male flowers racemose, few ; tube of calyx villous ; fruit un- 

 known. .F. Native on the shores about Campeachy. Perhaps 

 a variety of C. prophetarum, according to Spreng. syst. 3. p. 47. 



Campeachy Cucumber. PI. tr. 



22 C. PERE'NNIS (E. James, exped. rock, mount. 2. p. 345. 

 and in isis. 1824. p. 235.) leaves triangularly cordate, with un- 

 dulated margins ; tendrils trichotomous ; lobes of calyx subu- 

 late ; fruit orbicular, smooth, usually 4-celled ; seeds ovate, 

 gibbous, with an acute margin. 1. F. Native of or cultivated 

 in North America. Flowers about the size of those of Cucur- 

 bita Pepo. Fruit nearly sessile. 



Perennial Cucumber. PI. tr. 



Cult. See culture of the Cucumber and Melon in the open 

 air in the proper place, for the culture of the rest of the species. 



V. LU'FFA (Louff is the Arabic name of L. jEgyptiaca). 

 Cav. icon. 1. p. 7. t. 9. D. C. prod. 3. p. 302 Cucumis 

 species of authors, and Momordica species of authors. 



LIN. SYST. Monce^cia, Pentdndria, Male flowers yellow, in 

 panicles ; tube of calyx hemispherical, with the segments longer 

 than the tube. Petals free, deciduous from being ruptured at 

 the base. Stamens 5, not joined. Anthers very flexuous. 

 Female flowers solitary ; tube of calyx oblong-clavated, with 

 the segments shorter than the tube. Stamens almost abortive. 

 Stigmas reniform. Fruit ovate, 3-celled. Seeds 2-lobed at the 

 base, reticulated. Flowers yellow. 



1 L. FOZ'TIDA (Cav. icon. 1. p. 7. t. 9.) stem furrowed : leaves 

 cordate, 5-7-angled, scabrous ; the angles acute and serrated ; 

 tendrils umbellate ; fruit mucronate, not crowned by the limb of 

 the calyx. Q. F. Native of the East Indies, the islands of 

 Bourbon and France, as well as in many places on the western 



