.170 STURTEVANT S NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS 



selected specimens sometimes weighing 96 pounds or even more. The varieties vary in 

 shape from round to oblong and in color from a light green to almost a black, self-colored 

 or striped with paler green or marbled. The flesh may be white, cream-color, honey- 

 color, pale red, red or scarlet. The seeds are white, white with two black spots, cream- 

 colored tipped with brown and a brown stripe around the edge, yellow with a black stripe 

 round the margin and with black spots, dark brown, reddish-brown, russet-brown, black, 

 sculptured or as if engraved with ornamental characters, and pink or red. 



The watermelon is mentioned by the early botanists and described as of large size, 

 but it must be considered that this fruit even now is not as successfully grown in Europe 

 as in more southern countries. That none or few types have originated imder modem 

 culture is indicated by an examination into the early records. 



Size. Cardanus,' 1556, writes that the size is sometimes so great that a man can 

 scarcely embrace the fruit with his expanded arms. Marcgravius,^ 1648, describes those 

 of Brazil as being as large as a man's head, sometimes larger, sometimes smaller. In 

 1686, Ray ' says the size is such as to be scarcely grasped with the two hands; this is what 

 J. Bauhin * wrote many years earlier for he died in 1613. The figures in the earlier bot- 

 anies, of which there are many, all indicate a smalll-sized fruit, although the description 

 is usually of a " large " or " very large " fruit. 



Shape. Round fruits are mentioned by Fuchsius,^ 1542; by Cardanus,* 1556; Garcia 

 ab Horto,' 1567; Marcgravius,' 1648; Piso,' 1658; and Ray,^" 1686. Subround or roundish, 

 by Camerarius," 1586; and Gerarde,'^ 1597. Oblong by Garcia ab Horto," 1567 ; Lourerio," 

 1790. Oval, by Garcia ab Horto,'^ 1567. Elliptical, by Marcgravius,'* 1648; and Ray," 

 1686. 



Color. Grass-green, by Fuchsius,'' 1542. Green, by Albertus Magnus, thirteenth 

 century; Bauhin,^' 1596; Gerarde,^'' 1597. Grass-green and spotted, by Matthiolus,^! 1570; 



Cardanus Rerum var. 185. 1581. 



Marcgravius Hisl. Rerum Nat. Bras. 22. 1648. 



Ray Hist. PI. 643. 1686. 

 'Bauhin, J. Hist. PI. 1650. 

 Fuchsius Hist. Stirp. 702. 1542. 

 Cardanps iJerwrn ror. 184. 1556. 



' Horto, G. ab. ^roraa/um 237. 1567. 



' Marcgravius Hist. Rerum Nat. Bras. 22. 1648. 



Piso De Ind. 263. 1658. 

 "Ray Hist. PL 643. 1686. 



" Camerarius Efnt. 22. 1648. 



"Gerarde, J. Herb. 767. 1597. 



" Horto, G. ab. Aromatum 22,7 . 1567. 



" Loureiro Fl. Cochin. 594. 1790. 



" Horto, G. ab. Aromatum 237. 1567. 



" Marcgravius Hist. Rerum Nat. Bras. 22. 1648. (Piso) 



" Ray Hist. PL 643. 1686. 



" Fuchsius flii/. 5/i>/>. 702. 1542. 



" Bauhin, C. Phytopinax 622. 1596. 



" Gerarde, J. Herb. 767. 1597. 



" Matthiolus Comwew/. 369. 1570. 



