SicYos. CUCURBITACE^. 349 



Group 15. Character the same a^ of the following order. 



Order XLIV. CUCURBITACEiE. Juss. The Gourd Tribe. 



Flowers monoecious or dioecious. Calyx of 5 (rarely 6) sepals united into a 

 tube, which, in the fertile flowers, is adherent to the ovary. Petals as many 

 as the sepals, commonly united with each other and with the calyx. Stamens 

 5 or rarely 3, united so as to appear 2 or 3 (one or two pairs and a separate 

 one), variously united by their filaments and long sinuous or variously folded 

 anthers. Ovary 2 — 5-celled (very rarely one-celled, with a solitary ovule) ; 

 the thick and fleshy placentae often filling the cells, or carried back so as to 

 reach the margin ; the dissepiments often at length obliterated. Fruit a pepo, 

 usually fleshy, but sometimes membranous when mature. Seeds flat, often 

 arillate, without albumen. Cotyledons foliaceous. — Juicy herbaceous plants, 

 climbing by tendrils. Leaves alternate, palmately veined. Flowers axillary. 



1. SICYOS. Linn. ; Endl. gen. 514:6. SINGLE-SEEDED CUCUMBER. 



[Sikyos is an ancient Greek name for the Cucumber.] 



Flowers monoecious. Sterile Fl. Calyx flattish : teeth subulate or minute. Petals 5, all 

 cohering in a tube, at length separating into three parcels : anthers tortuous. Fertile Fl. 

 Calyx constricted above the ovary, campanulate. Corolla campanulate. Ovary 1-celled, 

 with a solitary suspended ovule. Style rather slender : stigmas 3, thick, obtuse, spreading. 

 Fruit ovate, membranaceous, mostly spiny or hispid. Seed large, compressed, smooth ; 

 the testa almost crustaceous. — Annual plants. Sterile flowers in racemes ; fertile ones in 

 pedunculate capitate clusters ; both usually from the same axils : corolla greenish-white. 



1. SicYos ANGULATUS, Linn. Common Single-seeded Cucumber. 



Stem, petioles and peduncles somewhat viscidly pubescent with long hairs ; leaves 

 roundish-cordate, angularly 5-lobed, with as many primary veins , the lobes denticulate and 

 acuminate ; sterile flowers in a corymbose crowded raceme, on a very long peduncle ; fertile 

 flowers on a much shorter peduncle ; style slender ; fruit viscidly pubescent, and covered 

 with rough prickly bristles. — Linn. sp. 2. p. 1013 ; Michx.fl. 2. p. 217 ; Pursh, fl. 2. p. 44 ; 

 Ell. sk. 2. p. 663 ; Torr. compend. p. 362 ; DC. prodr. 3. p. 309 ; Beck, hot. p. 178 ; Dar- 

 lingt. fl. Cest. p. 554 ; Torr. <^ Gr. fl. N. Am. I. p. 541. S. acutus, Raf.; DC. I. c. 

 Bryonoides, &c. Dill. Elth. t. 51. /. 59. 



[Flora.] 32 



