CUCUMIS 



water-melon like: fis. small, the pistillate long-stalked: 

 fr. 1-3 in. long, cucumber-like but more spiny. Supposed 

 to be native to the Amer. tropics. B.M. 5817.-Cult. both 

 for the oddity of its frts. and for the making of pickles. 

 The Gherkins of mixed pickles, however, are young 

 Cucumbers. 

 C. acutdngulxis, Hort.=Liiffa.- 



CUCtTBBITA (classical name). Ci 

 bitdcea. Gourd. Pumpkin. 

 like herbs, tendril-bearing, 

 warm countries. Fls. monoecious, large 

 yellow, solitary in the axils, the stam 

 inate long stalked, the pistillate short 

 stalked ; corolla 5-lobed : stamens 3, 

 arising from the bottom of the fl., and united in a 

 column : stigmas 3, but 2-lobed : ovary inferior, en- 

 closing a hollow receptacle tendrils 2-3 forked. About 

 10 species. The morphology of the Pepo or Gourd-fruit 

 may be illustrated b\ the Turban Squash ( Figs. 592, 593, 

 594.) In this fruit, there is a " squash mside a squash." 

 The inner part bears the corolla and the styles It is the 

 ovary. The corolla is ittached about the edge of the 



CUCURBITA 409 



peduncle very hard and deeply furrowed when mature, 

 not enlarging next the fr. : the fr. very various in form, 

 color, season, size. — Probably native to trop. Amer., but 

 unknown wild. Cult, by the Indians when Amer. was 



593. Young Turban Squash, in which the withered 

 corolla has become detached, but hangs on 

 the remains of the styles and stiemas. 



inner Squash, as the withered remains in Fig. 592 show. 

 Sometimes the withered corolla becomes detached, but 

 hangs onto the withered remains of the stigmas, as in 

 Fig. 593. The longitudinal section of the flower (Fig. 

 594) explains the structure. The corolla is shown at c d. 

 The top of the ovary is at O. The stigmas are on the 

 ovary. The part encircling the ovary (outside of O) is 

 the hollowed receptacle. Ordinarily the receptacle is 

 closed at the top, completely confining the ovary; but 

 in the Turban Squashes the receptacle does not extend 

 over the top of the ovary, and 

 |<1 the ovary therefore protrudes. 

 The older morphologists held 

 this outer part of the Squash to 

 l>e adnate calyx, rather than re- 

 ceptacle. The Cucurbits are 

 monographed by Cogniaux, DC. 

 Monogr. Phaner. 3. Also by 

 Naudin, Ann. Sci. Nat. (Bot.) 

 IV. vol. 6. See Pumpkin and 

 Squash. 



A. Zivs. lobed : stalks of fruits 



strongly ridged. 



PSpo, Linn. (C Melopppo, 



Linn.). Pumpkin. Figs. 595, 



596. Annual : long - running, 



prickly on stems and petioles : 



Ivs. 3-5-lobed, dark dull green: 



corolla-tube widening upwards, 



■ing the ovary inside the pointed lobes erect : calyx- 



the hoUowed receptacle, lobes narrow, not leaf -like: 



ered, in fields of maize. For studies in the nativity 

 of the Pumpkins and Squashes, see De Candolle, Origin 

 of Cultivated Plants; Gray and Trumbull, Amer. Joum. 

 Sci. 25: 370 ; Sturtevant, Amer. Nat. 1890 : 727 ; Witt- 

 mack, Ber. der Deutsehen Bot. Gesell. 6: 378 (1888). 



Var. cond^nsa. Bush Pumpkins. Scallop and StTM- 

 MER Crookneck Squashes. Plant compact, little or not 

 at all running. Of horticultural origin. 



Var. ovifera. (C. ofiVera, liinn.). Gourd. Fig. 597. 

 Plant slender, running: Ivs. smaller than in C. Pepo, 

 usually very prominently lobed: fr. small, hard and in- 

 edible, egg-shaped, globular, pear-shaped, oblate, often 

 striped. R.H. 1894, p. 429. -Sold in many vars. by seeds- 

 men, under the names of C. Pepo vars. pyriformis, 

 depressa , annulata, etc. See Gourd. 



mosch&ta, Duchesne (C. melonafdrmis, Carr.). 

 CusHAW. China, Canada Crookneck and Winter 

 Crookneck Squashes. Figs. 598, 599, 600. Anflual : 

 long-running, less prickly and sometimes soft-hairy: 

 Ivs. more rounded than those of C. Pepo, but lobed, often 

 grayish : fl. with a widening tube, and large, erect lobes : 

 calyx-lobes large, often leaf-like: peduncle becoming 

 deeply ridged and much enlarged next the fr. Possibly 

 of East Asian origin. 



594. Section of Flower c 

 Turban Squash. 



Showing the ovary inside 



596. Stem of Cucurbita Pepo-Early Su^ar Pumpkin. 



AA. LfS. not lohed (errept so,,,, hn ,-.-',,,, shoots): 



stalks of traits not pr-.i,' • . ' /. 



maxima, Duchesne. S<irAsii. I ' ! ' : Annual: 

 long-running, the stems nearly r> 1 1 1,.: i i. :i[, IimI.- prickly 

 and often hairy: Ivs. orbicular or kidiu-y-shaped, com- 

 monly not lobed, the basal sinus wide or narrow, the 

 margin shallowly apiculate-sinuate : corolla-tube nearly 



