CUCURBITACE.E. 85 



the projections between them. Petals deep-purple. S. W. 

 Ontario. 



2. L. Saliea'ria, L. (SPIKED LOOSESTRIFE.) More or less 

 downy and tall. Flowers purple, crowded, and forming an 

 interrupted spike. Stamens twice as many as the petals, in 

 two sets. Atl. Prov. Also at Ottawa and opposite Mon- 

 treal. 



2. NESJE'A, Commerson, Juss. SWAMP LOOSESTRIFE. 



N. vertieilla'ta, H. B. K. (Dec'odon vertitillatus, Ell.) 

 Stems curving, 2-6 feet long, 4-6-sided. Leaves lanceolate, 

 mostly whorled. Flowers purple, in the axils of the upper 

 leaves. Calyx bell-shaped, with 5-7 erect teeth, with sup- 

 plementary projections between them . Stamens 10, exserted , 

 5 longer than the rest. Swamps. 



ORDER XL. CUCURBIT A' CEJE. (GOURD FAMILY.) 

 Herbs, climbing by tendrils. Flowers monoecious. Calyx- 

 tube adherent to the 1-3-celled ovary. Corolla commonly 

 more or less gamopetalous. Stamens usually 3, united by 

 their tortuous anthers, and often also by the filaments. 

 Leaves alternate, palrnately lobed or veined. 



Synopsis of the Genera. 



1. Si'cyos. Flowers greenish- white, small ; the staminate corymbed, 



the pistillate clustered in a head on a long peduncle. Corolla 5- 

 cleft, with a spreading border. Style slender ; stigmas 3. Ovary 

 l-celled. Fruit dry and indehiscent, prickly, bur-like in appear- 

 ance. 



2. Echiuocys'tis. Flowers whitish, small ; the staminate in long 



compound racemes, the pistillate in small clusters from the same 

 axils. Corolla, 6-parted. Stigma broad, almost sessile. Ovary 

 2-celled, 4-seeded. Fruit fleshy, becoming dry, clothed with weak 

 prickles. 



1. SI'CYOS, L. STAR CUCUMBER. 



S. angllla'tus, L. A clammy-hairy weed in damp yards. 

 Leaves roundish heart-shaped, 5-angled or lobed. 



2. ECHIXOCYS'TIS, Torr. and Gray. WILD BALSAM-APPLE. 

 E. loba'ta, Torr. and Gray. Climbing high about dwel- 

 lings. Leaves deeply and sharply 5-lobed. The oval fruit 

 2 inches long. 



