Vol.. III.] 



TEASEL FAMILY. 



249 



I. Scabiosa arvensis L. Field 

 Scabious. (Fig. 3483.) 



Scabiosa arvensis L- Sp. PI. 99. 1753. 

 Knautia arvensis Coult. Dips. 29. 1823. 



Perennial, pubescent, simple or little branch- 

 ed, i-3 high. Basal and lower leaves pe.tioled, 

 lanceolate, acute or acuminate, entire, lobed, 

 or pinnatifid, 3 / -8 / long; upper leaves sessile, 

 often deeply pinnatifid; heads long-peduncled, 

 depressed-globose, i'-i^' broad; flowers lilac- 

 purple, about 6 // long; receptacle depressed- 

 hemispheric, not scaly, covered with hairs be- 

 tween the flowers; achene angled, crowned with 

 the 8 or 10 linear- subulate calyx-teeth. 



Tn cultivated fields and waste places, Massachu- 

 setts, Vermont, New York and Pennsylvania. Ad- 

 ventive from Europe. Other English names are 

 Blue Buttons, Blue Caps, Gipsy or Egyptian Rose, 

 Pincushion. June-Sept. 



2. Scabiosa australis Wulf. 

 Southern Scabious. (Fig. 3484. ) 



Scabiosa australis "Wulf. in Roem. Arch. 3: Part 3, 



316. 1803. 

 Succisa australis Reicheneb. Fl. Germ. Excurs. 



196. 1830. 



Perennial, puberulent, at least above; stem 

 slender, branched, i^-3 high. Basal leaves 

 oblanceolate to oblong, mostly obtuse, 4 / -i2 / 

 long, the petiole often as long as the blade, or 

 onger; stem leaves distant, lanceolate or ob- 

 long-lanceolate, entire, or toothed, short-peti- 

 oled, or the upper sessile, acute or acuminate; 

 heads of purple flowers long-peduncled, rather 

 less than i' in diameter, oblong-ovoid in fruit; 

 receptacle scaly, the scales about as long as the 

 involucels or longer; achene crowned with 5 

 calyx-teeth. 



Naturalized from Europe in central New York and 

 Massachusetts. Pincushion-flower. Summer. 



Family 39. CUCURBITACEAE B. Juss. Hort. Trian. 



Gourd Family. 



1759- 



Climbing or trailing, herbaceous vines, usually with tendrils. Leaves alter- 

 nate, petioled, generally palmately lobed or dissected. Flowers solitary or race- 

 mose, monoecious or dioecious. Calyx-tube adnate to the ovary, its limb cam- 

 panulate or tubular, usually 5-lobed, the lobes imbricated. Petals usually 5, 

 inserted on the limb of the catyx, separate, or united into a gamopetalous cor- 

 olla. Stamens mostly 3 (sometimes 1), 2 of them with 2-celled anthers, the other 

 with a 1 -celled anther; filaments short, often somewhat monadelphous. Ovary 1- 

 3-celled; style terminal, simple, or lobed; ovules few or numerous, anatropous. 

 Fruit a pepo, indehiscent, or rarely dehiscent at the summit, or bursting irregu- 

 larly; or sometimes dry and membranous. Seeds usually flat; endosperm none. 



About 90 genera and 650 species, mainly natives of tropical regions, a few in the temperate 

 zones. 



Flowers large, yellow; prostrate vine. 1. Cucurbita. 



Flowers small, white or greenish; climbing vines. 



Fruit glabrous; seeds numerous, horizontal. 2. Melothria. 



Fruit prickly; seeds 1 or few, erect or pendulous. 



Fruit dehiscent at the apex or bursting irregularly; several-seeded. 

 , Leaves 3-7-lobed; anthers 3. 



Leaves digitately compound; anther 1. 

 Fruit indehiscent, i-seeded. 



Micrampelis. 



Cyclantheta. 



Sicyos. 



