Megarrhiza. CUCURBITACE^E. 241 



elongated and climbing, from large fusiform perennial roots ; leaves cordate, pal- 

 mately 5 - 7-lobed or angled ; tendrils 2 5-cleft; flowers small, white. Flowering 

 in early spring. Watson, Proc. Am. Acad. xi. 138. 



A genus confined to the Pacific Coast, the species not well known, nearly allied to the Echino- 

 cystis of the Atlantic States, to which it has been referred, but from which it is separated by its 

 thick perennial roots, its large turgid immarginate seeds, and its thick fleshy cotyledons, which 

 remain under ground in germination. The fruit in some species appears to be wholly indehiscent. 



1. M. Calif ornica, Torr. Nearly glabrous, with short scattered curved hairs : 

 stem 20 to 30 feet long : leaves 2 to 6 inches broad, with a deep closed sinus, more 

 or less deeply 5 -7-lobed, but rarely to the middle; lobes broad-triangular, abruptly 

 acute, mucronate, the sinuses obtuse : sterile flowers (5 to 20) in slender racemes 3 to 

 5 inches long, somewhat pubescent, on slender pedicels a line or two long ; corolla 

 3 or 4 lines broad : fertile flowers 5 or 6 lines broad, without abortive stamens : 

 ovary globose, densely echinate, 2- (rarely 3-4)- celled, the cells 1-2-ovuled; lower 

 ovule ascending, the upper horizontal, attached to the outer side of the cell : fruit 

 globose or ovoid, 2 inches long, densely covered with stout almost pungent spines 

 (^ to 1 inch long), 1-4-seeded: seed obovoid, 10 lines long, 6 in diameter, sur- 

 rounded by a shallow groove or darker line, the hiluni at the narrow base. Pacif. 

 R. Rep. vi. 74. Echinocystis fabacea, Naudin, Ann. Sci. Nat. 4 ser. xii. 154, t. 9, 

 and xvi. 188. 



Near the coast from San Diego to Punta de los Reyes. A specimen from Knight's Ferry on the 

 Stanislaus (Bufdow) has the ripe fruit much less strongly armed. Specimens from Cocomungo 

 (Eigelow) may also belong here, though having the leaves more deeply divided with narrower 

 lobes, and the 4-celled fruit with 4 or 5 seeds in each cell. 



2. M. Mar ah, Watson, 1. c. Scabrous or nearly smooth : stems 10 to 30 feet 

 long : leaves cordate or reniform, 3 to 6 inches broad, lobed nearly as in the last : 

 sterile flowers a half to an inch broad, in simple or panicled loosely flowered 

 racemes, 4 to 12 inches long; pedicels slender, 2 to 6 lines long: fertile flowers 

 with abortive stamens : ovary oblong-ovate, more or less covered with soft spines, 

 2 3-celled ; ovules 1 to 4 or more in each cell, ascending or horizontal, attached 

 to the outer side of the cell : fruit ovate-oblong, 4 inches long, somewhat attenuate 

 at each end, more or less muricate all over with weak spines : seeds horizontally 

 imposed, flattish, suborbicular or irregularly elliptical, an inch in diameter, about 

 half as thick, with an obscure marginal furrow and prominent lateral hilum. 

 Marah muricatus, Kellogg, Proc. Calif. Acad. i. 38. 



Common around and near San Francisco Bay. Catalina Island (Baker), but sterile flowers only. 



3. M. Oregona, Torr. Much resembling the last : fertile flowers without abor- 

 tive stamens : young fruit similar in shape, sparingly muricate with soft spines, 

 3 -4-celled, the cells imbricated above each other, 1 -seeded : mature fruit (so far as 

 known) an inch or two long, unarmed, with very thin walls : seeds as in the last, 

 or somewhat smaller (8 to 11 lines broad), attached to the outer side of the cell. 

 Pacif. R. Rep. vi. 74. 



Common in Washington Territory and said to range from Puget Sound to Klamath Lake. 



4. M. muricata, Watson, 1. c. Nearly glabrous or somewhat scabrous, often 

 more or less glaucous : stems 6 to 8 feet long : leaves 2 to 4 inches broad, orbicular- 

 cordate with a nearly closed sinus or broadly reniform, deeply 5-lobed, the divisions 

 all broader above and sharply sinuate-toothed or -lobed : sterile racemes slender, often 

 very few-flowered : fertile flowers 3 to 4 lines broad, without abortive stamens, on 

 slender pedicels an inch or two long : ovary smooth or sparingly muricate, oblong, 

 acute at each end : fruit nearly globose, an inch in diameter, naked or with a few 

 short weak spines near the base, 2-celled, 2-seeded : seed nearly globose, half an 

 inch in diameter, ascending, attached to the outer side of the cell near the base, the 

 margin smooth. Echinocystis muricata, Kellogg, Proc. Calif. Acad. i. 57. 



