160 ONAGRARIEJE. [Circe a. 



Hilly districts from Gloster, N. Wales and Stafford to Sutherland ; ascends 

 to 1,300 ft. in the Lake district; Ireland; fl. July-Ang. — Usually a well- 

 marked plant ; comparatively stouter, 6-8 in. ; leaves with longer and winged 

 petiole ; pedicels with minute subulate bracts," but supposed hybrids or inter- 

 mediates are designated as C. lutetia'na, var. interme'dia, and C. interme'dia, 

 Ehrh., according to their affinities with one or the other parent. — Distrib. as 

 C. lutetia'na, omitting N. Africa, and extending to within the Arctic circle 

 and to mountains of South India. 



Order XXXIII. CUCURBlTA'CEiE. 



Tribe Cucumeri'neje. 



Prostrate or climbing, annual or perennial herbs. Leaves alternate, 

 exstipulate. Tendrils lateral, simple or divided. Flowers usually cymose, 

 unisexual. Calyx superior, lobes 5, valvate in bud. Petals 5, inserted on 

 the calyx-limb, distinct or connate below, valvate or induplicate in bud. 

 Stamens 3 ; filaments and anthers distinct or connate, the latter adnate to 

 the filaments, bursting outwards, one 1-celled, two 2-celled, cells straight 

 curved or flexuous. Ovary inferior, 3-celled ; placentas 3, fleshy, project- 

 ing to and confluent in the axis of the ovary and thence reflexed to its 

 walls ; style simple or divided, stigmas various ; ovules 2-seriate, parietal, 

 horizontal, anatropous. Berry 1-celled, many-seeded. Seeds usually 

 flattened, testa coriaceous or crustaceous, albumen 0, embryo flattened, 

 cotyledons plano-convex or foliaceous, radicle short. — Distrib. Of the 

 Tribe, chiefly Indian and African ; genera 50 ; species 360. — Affinities. 

 With Passiftorece. — The above Tribe comprises the mass of the Order. — 

 Properties. Purgative and bitter, but many yield by cultivation esculent 

 fruits. 



l. BRYONIA, L. Bryony. 



Slender climbing perennial herbs. Leaves 3-5-angled or -lobed. — Malb 

 fl. in racemed corymbose or fascicled cymes. Calyx-tube campanulate, 

 5-toothed. Corolla rotate or campanulate, 5-partite. Filaments 3, rarely 5 ; 

 anthers distinct or slightly cohering, cells flexuous. — Female fl. solitary 

 or crowded, calyx and corolla of the male. Ovary ovoid or globose ; st} T le 

 slender, 3-fid, stigmas simple or 2-lobed. Berry spherical, many or few- 

 seeded. Seeds tumid or compressed. — Distrib. Temp, and trop. ; species 

 12. — Etym. fipvoo, to shoot, from the rapid growth of the shoots. 



B. dioi'ca, L. ; hispid, dioecious, leaves palmately 5-lobed. 

 Hedges and thickets in England, rare in the North ; Channel Islands ; fl. 

 May-Sept — Rootstock of very large fleshy tubers; juice nauseous, milky. 

 Stems many, annular, slender, angled ; tendrils simple. Leaves 3-5 in. 

 diam., petioled, suborbicular, cordate, lobes sinuate. Cymes of male corym- 

 bose, 3-8-fld. ; of fern, umbelled. Corolla h-% in. diam., hairy, greenish. 

 Ovary smooth, stigmas 2-cleft. Berry £ in. diam., red, 3-6-seeded. — Dis- 

 trib. From Denmark southd., N. Africa, W. Asia. — Koot acrid and 

 cathartic. 



