CUCUMIS 



CUCURBITA 



909 



1129. Young Turban squash, on which 

 the remains of the corolla still persist. 

 The central part of the fruit is the ovary. 



Afr. R.H. 1860, p. 210. Cult, as an ornamental 

 gourd. 



Sacle&xii, Paill. & Bois. MANDERA CUCUMBER. 

 Slender, hairy, whitish: Ivs. roundish -reniform, ob- 



scurely lobed and 

 irregularly dentate, 

 scabrous on both 

 surfaces and gray- 

 ish green: fls. soli- 

 tary; males on long- 

 filiform peduncles, 

 the females on 

 shorter but slender 

 peduncles and with 

 hairy ovary : fr. 

 ovoid, 3-4 in. long 

 and half as thick at 

 the middle, some- 

 what scabrous, with 

 longitudinal stripes 

 of lighter green; 

 seeds brown, y&m. 

 long. Zanzibar. 

 Said to be ornamen- 

 tal and the fruits 

 useful for pickles. 

 C. acutdngulus, Hort.=Luffa. C. Citrullus, Ser.=Citrullus 

 vulgaris. C. Colocynthis, Linn.=Citrullus Colocynthis. C. metu- 

 liferus, Mey. Hispid annual, with palmately somewhat 3-lobed 

 cordate petiolate Ivs., and oblong-obtuse spiny fr., about 4 in. long. 

 S. Afr. C. perennis, James=Cucurbita. C. prophetarum, Linn. 

 Slender perennial with ashy scabrous long-stalked mostly 3-5- 

 lobed Ivs., and longitudinally white-striped softly spinose fr. 

 1-1 % in. long. Afr. C. Vilmdrtnii, Hort. A plant of un- 

 recorded origin, with cut Ivs. and abundance of canary-yellow 

 soft-spined frs. T H R 



CUCURBIT: A plant of the genus Cucurbita. 

 Sometimes shortened to Cucurb. 



CUCURBITA (classical name). Cucur- 

 bitacese. GOURD. PUMPKIN. SQUASH. 

 Vine-like tender herbs, tendril-bearing, 

 grown for their edible and ornamental 

 fruits. 



Annual, or the root perennial-rhizo- ' 

 matous, rough-hairy and scabrous, with 

 large often palmately lobed Ivs., the tendrils bifid or 

 multifid: fls. monoecious, large, yellow, solitary in the 

 axils, the staminate long-stalked, the pistillate short- 

 stalked; corolla 5-lobed; stamens 3, arising from the 

 bottom of the fl., and united in a column; stigmas 

 3, but 2-lobed; ovary inferior, inclosed in a hollow re- 

 ceptacle; tendrils 2-3-forked. About 10 species in 

 warm parts of Asia, Afr., Amer. The morphology 

 of the pepo or gourd-fruit may be illustrated by the 

 Turban squash. Figs. 1129-31. In this fr., there is a 

 "squash inside a squash." The inner part bears the 



corolla and the 

 styles. It is the 

 ovary. The co- 

 rolla is attached 

 about the edge 

 of the inner 

 squash, as the 

 withered re- 

 mains in Fig. 

 1129 show. 

 Sometimes the 

 withered corolla 

 becomes de- 

 tached, but 

 hangs to the 

 withered re- 

 mains of the 



stigmas, as 

 1130. Young Turban squash, in which -- -- 



the withered corolla has become detached, 

 but hangs to the remains of the styles and 

 stigmas. 



(Fig. 1131) explains the struc- 

 ture. The corolla is shown at 

 c, d. The top of the ovary is at 

 o. The stigmas are on the ovary. 

 The part encircling the ovary 

 (outside of o) is the hollowed 

 receptacle. Ordinarily the recep- 

 tacle is closed at the top, com- 

 pletely confining the ovary; but 

 in the Turban squashes the 

 receptacle does not extend over 

 the top of the ovary, and the 

 ovary therefore protrudes. The 

 older morphologists held this 

 outer part of the squash to be 

 adnate calyx, rather than recep- 

 tacle. The cucurbits are mono- 

 graphed by Cogniaux, DC. 

 Monogr. Phaner. 3. Also by 

 Naudin, Ann. Sci. Nat. (Bot.) IV, vol. 6. See Pumpkin 

 and Squash. 



The terms squash and pumpkin are much confused. 

 In Europe, the large varieties of Curcubita maxima are 

 known as pumpkins, but in this country the fruits of 

 this species are known usually as squashes. In America, 

 the words pumpkin and squash are used almost indis- 

 criminately, some varieties in all species being known 

 by those names. The field or common pie pumpkins are 

 C. Pepo; so are vegetable marrows; also the summer 

 squashes, as the Scallop, Pattypan and Crookneck 

 varieties. The Hubbard, Marblehead, Sibley and 



1131. Section of flower 

 of Turban squash. Show- 

 ing the ovary inside the 

 hollowed receptacle. 



. ,. . 

 longitudinal sec- 



tion of the flower 



1132. Plant of Cucurbita Pepo. 



Turban kinds are C. maxima. The Cushaws, Canada 

 Crookneck, Japanese Crookneck, Dunkard, and Sweet 

 Potato pumpkins (or squashes) are C. moschata. The 

 fruit stem (as shown in Figs. 1133, 1136, 1141) is a dis- 

 tinguishing characteristic of the ripe fruits. C. Pepo 

 and C. maxima, and C. maxima and C. moschata appa- 

 rently do not intercross. C. Pepo and C. moschata have 

 been crossed, but it is doubtful if they intermix when 

 left to themselves. In Europe, the word gourd (or its 

 equivalent in various languages) is used generically for 

 cucurbitas; but in this country it is restricted mostly 

 to the small, hard-shelled forms of C. Pepo (var. ovifera) 

 grown for ornament, and to Lagenaria vulgaris. 



A. Plant annual. 



B. Lvs. lobed: stalks of frs. strongly ridged. 

 Pe"po, Linn. (C. Melopepo, 

 Linn.). PUMPKIN. Figs. 1132, 

 1133. Annual: long-running, 

 prickly on sts. and petioles: Ivs. 

 3-5-lobed, dark dull green: co- 

 rolla-tube widening upwards, the 

 pointed lobes erect; calyx-lobes 

 narrow, not If .-like; peduncle very 

 hard and deeply furrowed when 

 mature, not enlarging next the 

 fr.: the fr. very various in form, 

 color, season, size. Probably native 

 to Trop. Amer., but unknown 

 wild. Cult, by the Indians when 1133 stemofCucur- 

 Amer. was discovered, in fields of bitaPepo. Early Sugar 

 maize. For studies in the nativity pumpkin. 



