240 CUCURBITACE^E. Cucurbita. 



inately 5-cleft to the middle with lanceolate acuminate lobes, which are often ob- 

 tusely toothed near the base, usually exceeding the petioles : flowers 3 inches long, 

 on stout pedicels, lobes acutish : calyx-tube an inch long, the teeth broader and 

 three lines long or more : fruit globose : seeds 5 lines long. Proc. Am. Acad. xi. 

 137. 



San Diego County ; Cajon Valley (Cleveland) ; Larken's Station, near the Jacumba Mountains, 

 Palmer. 



4. C. Californica, Torrey in herb. Canescent with. a short white rigid pubes- 

 cence : leaves thick, 5-lobed, two inches broad, the triangular lobes acute or acumi- 

 nate, mucronate : tendrils slender, parted to the base : flowers an inch long or more, 

 on pedicels ^ to 1 inch long ; calyx 4 or 5 lines long, the linear teeth 2 lines long. 

 -Watson, 1. c. 138. 



Imperfect specimens of this evidently distinct species were collected by Dr. Pickering on the 

 Wilkes Exploring Expedition, in Sacramento Valley, and what is apparently the same was also 

 found by Emory on Cariso Creek in the southern part of the State. 



2. MELOTHRIA, Linn. 



Flowers monoecious ; the sterile in axillary racemes ; the fertile solitary. Calyx 

 campanulate, shortly 5-toothed. Corolla 5-parted into oblong or linear-oblong seg- 

 ments. Sterile flowers with the stamens on the calyx-tube : filaments short, free ; 

 anthers free, short and ovoid, rarely all 2-celled ; the cells straight and connective 

 usually produced. Pistillate flower on a long and slender pedicel, with 3 abortive 

 or rarely perfect stamens : ovary ovoid, constricted below the flower, with 3 pla- 

 centas and numerous horizontal ovules : style short, on an annular disk : stigmas 

 2-lobed. Fruit small, baccate, juicy. Seed ovate, flattened. Slender herbs, with 

 simple tendrils, and small yellow or white flowers. 



About 30 species, in the wanner regions of the world. 



1. M. pendula, Linn. Stems very slender, climbing : leaves rather thin, cor- 

 date, an inch or two broad, repand-toothed, or acutely 5-angled or lobed, scabrous 

 or nearly smooth : sterile flowers few, in small racemes, 2 lines long, yellowish ; 

 calyx-teeth minute : fertile flowers on filiform pedicels at length as long as the 

 leaves : ovary oblong : fruit subglobose, half an inch long, blackish when ripe : seed 

 numerous, 1| lines long. Torr. & Gray, Fl. i. 541. 



From the southern Atlantic States westward across the continent. In Southeastern California, 

 on the Colorado River, Bigclow. 



3. MEGAERHIZA, Torrey. Bio-RooT. 



Flowers monoecious ; the sterile racemose or panicled ; the fertile solitary, from 

 the same axils. Calyx-tube broadly campanulate : teeth obsolete or very small. 

 Corolla rotate, deeply 5 - 7-lobed, with oblong papillose segments. Sterile flowers 

 Avith the stamens at the base: filaments short and connate : anthers free or somewhat 

 adherent ; the cells somewhat horizontal, flexuous. Pistillate flowers pedicelled : 

 abortive stamens present or none : ovary oblong to globose, usually more or less 

 echinate, 2-celled or more : cells 1 - several-ovuled : ovules ascending, horizontal, or 

 pendulous, the attachment mostly parietal : style short : stigma 2 - 3-lobed or parted. 

 Fruit mostly echinate, more or less fibrous within, becoming dry, at length bursting 

 irregularly 1 Seed large, turgid, ovoid or subglobose, smooth, not margined ; hilum 

 linear, acute : cotyledons thick, remaining under ground in germination. Stems 



