196 CUCURBIT ACE.E. (GOURD FAMILY.) 



3. CYCLANTHERA, Schrad. 



Flowers monoecious. Corolla rotate, deeply 5-parted. Stamens united into 

 a central column, the anther solitary in our species and annular. Ovary (1 -3-) 

 usually 2-celled and 4-locellate with 4 erect or ascending ovules. Fruit spiny, 

 obliquely ovoid and gibbous, beaked, bursting irregularly. Seeds flattened. 

 Slender glabrous climbing annuals or perennials, with very small racemose 

 or panicled white sterile flowers and a solitary fertile one in the same axil. 

 (Name from KVK\OS, a circle, and avB'fipa, anther.) 



1. C. disscta, Arn. Annual ; leaves digitately 3 - 7-foliolate, the oblong 

 divisions somewhat lobed or toothed ; tendrils simple or bifid ; fruit \' long, on 

 a short peduncle. Central Kan. to Tex. and Mex. 



4. MELOTHRIA, L. 



Flowers polygamous or monoecious ; the sterile campanulate, the corolla 5- 

 lobed ; the fertile with the calyx-tube constricted above the ovary, then cam- 

 panulate. Anthers more or less united. Berry small, pulpy, filled with many 

 flat and horizontal seeds. Tendrils simple. Flowers very small. (Altered 

 from ij.-f]\(adpov, an ancient name for a sort of white grape.) 



1. M. pendula, L. Slender, from a perennial root, climbing; leaves 

 small, roundish and heart-shaped, 5-angled or lobed, roughish ; sterile flowers 

 few in small racemes ; the fertile solitary, greenish or yellowish ; berry oval, 

 green, 4 - 6" long. Copses, Va. to Fla., west to S. Ind. and La. 



6. CUCURBITA, L. 



Flowers monoecious, mostly solitary. Calyx-tube campanulate ; corolla cam- 

 panulate, 5-lobed to the middle. Filaments distinct; anthers linear, united, 

 sigmoid. Ovary oblong, with short thick style, 3-5 2-lobed stigmas, and 3-5 

 parietal placentas , ovules numerous, horizontal. Fruit smooth, fleshy with a 

 hard rind, indehiscent. Prostrate scabrous vines, rooting at the joints, with 

 large yellow flowers and large fruit. (The Latin name for the Gourd.) 



1. C. fCBtidissima, HBK. Root very large, fusiform; leaves thick, 

 triangular-cordate ; flowers 3-4' long ; fruit globose or obovoid, 2-3' in di- 

 ameter. (C. perennis, Gray.) Central Neb. to Tex., and westward. 



ORDER 46. CACTACEJE. (CACTUS FAMILY.) 



Fleshy and thickened mostly leafless plants, of peculiar aspect, globular 

 or columnar and many-angled, or flattened and jointed, usually with prickles. 

 Flowers solitary, sessile , the sepals and petals numerous, imbricated in sev- 

 eral rows, the bases adherent to the 1-celled ovary. Stamens numerous, 

 with long and slender filaments, inserted on the inside of the tube or cup 

 formed by the union of the sepals and petals. Style 1 ; stigmas numerous. 

 Fruit a 1-celled berry, with numerous campy lot ropous seeds on several 

 parietal placentae. 



1. Mamillaria. Globose or oval plants, covered with spine-bearing tubercles. Flowers 



from between the tubercles. Ovary naked , berry succulent. 



2. Opuntia. Branching or jointed plants , the joints flattened or cylindrical 



