:\!pgarrhiza. CUCURHITACE^. 241 



olongiited <'uid climbing, from largo fusiform perennial roots ; leaves cordate, pal- 



mately 5 - 7-lobcd or angled ; tendrils 2-5-cleft; llowers small, white. Fhnvering 



in early spring. ■ — Watson, Proc. Am. Acad. xi. 138. 



A genus confined to the Pacific Coast, the species not well known, nearly allied to the Echiiw- 

 cystis of the Atlantic St.ates, to which it has liecn referred, but from which it is separated by its 

 thick perennial roots, its large turgid iinuiarginate seeds, and its tliick fleshy cotyledons, which 

 remain under ground in germination. The fiiiit in some species ai)pears to be wholly indidiiscent. 



1. M. Californica, Torr. Nearly glabrous, with short scattered curved haii-s : 

 stem 20 to .'50 feet long : leaves 2 to G inches broad, with a deep closed sinus, more 

 or loss deeply 5-7-lobwl, but rarely to the middle ; lobes broad-triangular, abruptly 

 acute, mncronate, the sinuses obtuse: sterile llowc^ra (5 to 20) in slender racemes 3 to 

 5 inches long, somewhat pubescent, on slender i)edicels a lino or two long ; corolla 

 3 or 4 lines broad : fertile flowers 5 or G lines broad, without abortive stamens : 

 ovary globose, densely echinato, 2- (rarely 3-4)- celled, the cells 1-2-ovuled ; lower 

 ovule ascending, the upper horizontal, attached to the outer side of the cell : fruit 

 globose or ovoid, 2 inches long, densely covered with stout almost pungent spines 

 {\ to 1 inch long), 1 - 4-seeded : seed obovoid, 10 lines long, G in diameter, sur- 

 rounded by a shallow groove or darker lino, the hilum at the narrow base. — Pacif. 

 P. Pep. vi. 74. Echinocystis fabacea, Naudin, Ann. Sci. Nat. 4 ser. xii, 154, t. 9, 

 and xvi. 188. 



Near the coast from San Diego to Punta de los Reyes. A specimen from Knight's Ferry on the 

 Stanislaus (Biyelow) has the ripe fruit much less strongly armed. Specimens from Cocoimmgo 

 (Biffcloin) may also belong here, though having the leaves more deeply divided with narrower 

 lobes, and the 4-celled fruit with 4 or 5 seeds in each cell. 



2. M. Marah, Watson, 1. c. Scabrous or nearly smooth : stems 10 to 30 foot 

 long : leaves cordate or reniform, 3 to G inches broad, lobed nearly as in the last : 

 sterile flowers a half to an inch l)road, in simple or panicled k)osoly flowered 

 racemes, 4 to 12 inches long; pedicels slender, 2 to G lines long: fertile flowers 

 with abortive stamens : ovary oblong-ovate, more or less covered with .soft spines, 

 2 - 3-cellod ; ovules 1 to 4 or more in oaclj coll, ascending or horizontal, attacheil 

 to the outer side of the cell : fruit ovate-oblong, 4 inches long, somewhat attenuate 

 at each end, more, or less niuricate all over with weak spines : seeds horizontally 

 im})osed, flattish, suborbicular or irregularly ellijitical, an inch in diameter, about 

 half as thick, with an obscuri^ marginal furrow and pronunent lateral hilum, — 

 Marah mnrlcalnH, luillogg, Troc. (Jalil'. Acad. i. 3H. 



Connnnn nrouiid and near Sun Francisco Iky. Cat^alina Island {linker), hut Rtorilo (loworsoiily. 



3. M. Oregona, Torr. Much resembling the last : fertile flowers without abor- 

 tive stamens : young fruit similar in shape, sparingly muricate with soft spines, 

 3-4-cell(!d, the cells imbricated above each other, l-.sceded : mature fruit (so for as 

 known) an inch or two long, unarmed, with very thin walls : seeds as in the last, 

 or somewhat smaller (8 to 11 lines broad), attached to the outer side of the cell. — 

 Pacif. P. Pep. vi. 74. 



CouHuon in Washington Territoi7 and said to range from Paget Roiuid to Klamath Lake. 



4. M. muricata, Watson, 1. c. Nearly glabrous or .somewhat scabrous, often 

 more or less glaucous : stems G to 8 feet long : leaves 2 to 4 inches broad, orbicular- 

 cordate with a nearly closed sinus or broadly reniform, deeply r)-lobed, the divisions 

 all broader above and sharply sinuate-toothed or -lobofl : sterile racemes slender, often 

 very few-flowered : fertile llowers 3 to 4 lines broad, without abortive stamens, on 

 slender pedicels an inch or two long : ovary smooth or sparingly muricate, oblong, 

 acute at (Mu;h end : fruit nearly globoH(\ an inch in diameter, indeed or with a few 

 short weak spines near the base, 2-cell(Ml, 2-seeded : .sped nearly globose, half an 

 inch in diameter, ascending, attached to the outer side of the cell near the base, the 

 margin smooth. — Echinocystis muricata, Kellogg, Proc. Calif Acad. i. bl . 



