s 



186 CUCURBITACE^-. (gOURD FAMILY.) 



2. P. incarn^ta, L. Nearly smooth ; leaves 3-cleJl ; the lobes serrate ; peti- 

 ole bearing 2 glands; flower large (2' broad), nearly white, with a triple purple 

 and flesh-colored crown; involucre 3-leavcd. — Dry soil, Virginia, Kentucky, 

 and southward. May - July. — Fruit of the size of a hen's egg, oval, called 

 yy Mat/pops. 



' (\ 



• OuDF.R 45. CUCURBITACEiE. (GoruD Family.) 



Mostly succulent herbs with tendrils, dicecioiis or monoicious (^often 7nono- 

 petalous) Jlowers, the calyx-tube cohering v/ith the 1-3-celled ovary, and the 

 5 or usually 2^ stamens (i. e. one with a one-celled and 2 with two-celled 

 anthers) commonly united by their often tortuous anthers, and sometimes also 

 by the filaments. Fruit (pepo) jleshy, or sometimes membranaceous. — 

 Limb of the calyx and corolla usually more or less combined. Stigmas 2 

 or 3. Seeds large, usually flat, anatropous, with no albumen. Cotyledons 

 leaf-like. Leaves alternate, palmately lobed or veined. — Mostly a troj)- 

 ieal or subtropical order; represented in cultivation by the GouuD (La- 

 GEXARiA vulgaris), Pumpkin and Squash (.species of Cucurijita), 

 MusKMKLON (CiJCUMis Melo), Cucumber (C. sativus), and Wa- 

 termelon (CiTKULLUS vulgaris) ; while as wild plants, there are only 

 the three following: — 



1. .Sicyos. Corolla of the sterile flowers flat and spreading, 5-lobed. Fruit prickly, iiidehis- 



ceiit, 1-CfIled, 1-seeded. 



2. Kchiiiocystis. Corolla of the sterile flowers flat and sprea<ling, 6-partcd. Pod prickly, 



2-celled. 4-seeded, bursting at the top. 



3. Melothria. Corolla of the sterile flowers somewhat campanulate, 5-cleft. Berry smooth, 



many-seeded. 



1. SICYOS, L. One-seeded Star-Cuccmbek. 



Flowers moncecious. Petals 5, united below into a bell-shaped or flattish co- 

 rolla. Anthers cohering in a, mass. Ovary 1-cellcd, with a single suspended 

 ovule : style slender : stigmas 3. Fruit ovate, dry and indehiscent, filled by the 

 single seed, covered with barbed prickly bristles which arc rc:ulily detached. — 

 Climbing annuals, with 3-forked tendrils, small whitish flowers ; the sterile and 

 fertile mostly from the same axils, the former corymbed, the latter in a capitate 

 cluster, long-j)e(luncled. (Greek name for the Cucumber.) 



1. S. angulatus, L. Leaves roundish heart-shaped, 5-angled or lobed, 

 the lobes jKjinted; plant clammy-hairy. — River-banks; and a weed in damp 

 yards. July - Sept. 



2. ECHINOCYSTIS, Torr. & Gray. Wild Balsam-ai>ile. 



Flowers monrccious. Petals 6, lanceolate, united at the base into an open 

 spreading corolla. Anthers more or less united. Ovary 2 celled, with 2 erect 

 ovules in each cell : stigma broad. Fruit fleshy, at length dry, clothed with 

 weak prickles, bursting at the summit, 2-celIed, 4-seeded, the inner part fibrous- 

 netted. Seeds large, with a thickish hard coat. Tall climbing ])lants, nenrly 

 smooth, with 3-forkcd tendrils, thin leaves, and very numerous small greenish- 



