CUCUMBER 



CUCUMIS 



907 



may expect to obtain a yield of six to seven dozen 

 marketable cucumbers from a plant. 



Varieties of cucumber. 



There are a great many varieties of cucumbers in 

 cultivation. This means that the group is variable, the 

 varieties comparatively unstable, and varietal distinc- 

 tions somewhat uncertain. Nevertheless, there are cer- 

 tain dominant types which may be separated, and 

 around which most of the varieties may be conveniently 

 classified. The principal types are the following: 



Common cucumber, Cucumis sativus. 



I. English forcing type (var. anglicus): Fig. 1122. Large-lvd.i 

 strong-growing, slow-maturing plants, not suited to outdoor 

 cult.: fr. large, long, smooth, usually green, with few or early- 

 deciduous black spines. Telegraph, Sion House, Tailby Hybrid, 

 Kenyon, Lome, Edinburgh, Blue Gown. 



II. Field varieties (hill or ridge cucumbers), 

 a. Black Spine varieties. 



1. Netted Russian type: Small, short-jointed vines, 



bearing more or less in clusters, small, ellipsoidal fr. 

 covered with many small, black, deciduous spines: 

 fr. green, ripening to dark reddish yellow, on a 

 cracking, chartaceous skin. Early-maturing and pro- 

 lific. Netted Russian, Everbearing, New Siberian, 

 Parisian Prolific Pickle. 



2. Early Cluster type: Small or medium vines: fr. small, 



usually less than twice as long as thick, indistinctly 

 ribbed, green, ripening yellow, with scattered, large, 

 black spines. Early Cluster, Early Frame. 



3. Medium Green type: Intermediate in size of vine 



and fr. between the last and next: fr. about twice 

 as long as thick, green, ripening yellow, with scatter- 

 ing, large black spines. Nichols Medium. Green, 

 Chicago Pickle. 



4. Long Green type: One of the best fixed types, rep- 



resenting, perhaps, one of the more primitive stages 

 in the evolution of the group. Vines large, long and 

 free-growing: fr. large and long, green, ripening 

 yellow, with scattered, large, black spines. Long 

 Green, Japanese Climbing. 

 6. White Spine varieties. 



5. White Spine type: A strong and important type: plants 



medium large, vigorous: fr. medium large, about 

 thrice as long as thick, green, ripening white, with 

 scattering, large, white spines. There are many 

 selected strains of White Spine. Cool and Crisp, 

 Davis Perfect and Fordhook Famous belong here. 



6. Giant Pera type : Mostly poorly fixed varieties, having 



large rather unthrifty vines, bearing large frs. 

 tardily and sparsely, which are white or whitish, 

 smooth or with scattering, deciduous, usually white 

 spines. Chicago Giant, Goliath, Giant Pera, White 

 Wonder, Long Green China. 



Sikkim cucumber, Cucumis sativus var. sikkimensis. Plant small 

 and stocky, much like the common cucumber: fr. large, red- 

 dish brown marked with yellow. (The Egyptian hair cucum- 

 ber, of Haage & Schmidt, as we have grown it, is apparently 

 an odd form of Cucumis sativus, and may belong here. It has 

 a medium-sized white fr., densely covered with soft, white 

 hair. The plant resembles the Sikkim cucumber.) Not in 

 general cult. 



pickling, the medium sorts for slicing, and the large, late 

 varieties for ripe fruits. The White Spine varieties are 

 great favorites for slicing, and only less so for pickling. 



F. A. WAUGH. 



H. F. TOMPSON. 



CUCUMBER TREE: Averrhoa and Magnolia. 



CUCUMIS (old Latin 

 name) . Cucurbitacese. Ten- 

 dril-bearing soft tender herbs, 

 some of which are grown for 

 their edible fruits. 



Annual or perennial- 

 rooted (the common cult. 



1124. Pistillate flower of Cucumis Melo. (Natural size.) 



species annual), with large alternate entire or palmately 

 lobed or dissected Ivs. : monoecious (rarely dioecious); 

 sterile fls. in clusters, not long-stalked, the fertile ones 

 solitary and mostly short-stalked in the axils; corolla 

 of 5 deep acute lobes; stamens not united; stigmas 3, 

 obtuse: tendrils simple: fr. a pepo, mostly 3-celled, 

 usually indehiscent, fleshy or thick, globular, oblong 

 or cylindrical, sometimes echinate, many-seeded. 

 About 30 species of villous or spinescent climbers and 

 trailers with annual sts., in warm parts of the globe, 

 most abundant in Afr. Monogr. by Cogniaux, DC. 

 Monogr. Phaner. 3. See, also, Naudin, Ann. Sci. Nat. 

 (Bot.) IV. 11:9; 12:108. 



A. The melon group: fr. smooth at maturity or only 



pubescent (not spiny or tuberculate) . 



Melo, Linn. MELON. MUSKMELON. Figs. 1123, 



1124. Long-running, hairy or villous annual: Ivs. 



large, soft-hairy, round -heart -shaped or reniform, 



sometimes rounded-lobed and more or less denticulate: 



1 123. Staminate flower of Cucumis Melo. (Nat. size) 



Snake or Serpent cucumber, Cucumis Melo var. flexuosus. Vines 

 resembling those of muskmelon: fr. very long, twisted, ribbed- 

 cylindrical, green, tardily yellowing, covered with dense, 

 woolly hairs. 



West India gherkin, Cucumis Anguria. Figs. 1127, 1128. Vines small 

 and slender, somewhat resembling a slender watermelon plant: 

 fr. very abundant, small, ellipsoid, covered with warts and 

 spines, green, tardily whitening. Good for pickles. 



These varieties are mostly all good for one purpose 

 or another. The small sorts are naturally preferred for 



58 



1125, 



Cucumis sativus. Staminate flower at s; 

 pistillate at p. ( X H) 



male fls. clustered, the peduncle 

 short: fr. very variable, pubescent 

 or becoming glabrous. S. Asia and 

 Trop. Afr. Very variable, and widely cult. 



1. Subspecies or var. agrestis, Naudin. The wild or 

 run-wild or spontaneous plant: slender: fls. small, 

 short -peduncled, often in 2's or 3's: fr. oblong or tur- 

 binate, size of a plum, not edible. To this subspecies 



