Vol. III.] 



GOURD FAMILY. 



251 



3. MICRAMPELIS Raf. Med. Rep. (II.) 5: 350. 1S08. 

 [Echinocystis T. & G. Fl. N. A. 1: 542. 1840.] 



Mostly annual climbing herbs, with branched tendrils, lobed or angled leaves, and small 

 white monoecious flowers. Calyx-tube campanulate, 5-6-lobed. Corolla very deeply 5-6- 

 parted. Stamens 3 in the staminate flowers, the anthers more or less coherent. Pistillate 

 flowers with a 2-celled ovary; ovules 2 in each cavity, style very short; stigma hemispheric 

 or lobed. Fruit fleshy or dry at maturity, densely spiny, 1-2-celled, usually with 2 seeds in 

 each cavity, dehiscent at the summit. Testa of the seed roughened. [Greek, small-vine.] 



About 25 species, natives of America. Besides the fallowing, about 10 others occur in the west- 

 ern United States. 



Mock Apple. 



1. Micrampelis lobata (Michx.) Greene. Wild Balsam Apple. 



(Fig. 3487.) 



Momordica echinata Muhl. Trans. Am. Phil. Soc. 



3: 180. Name only. 1793. 

 Sicyos lobata Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. 2: 217. 1803. 

 Echinocystis lobata T. & G. Fl. N. A. 1: 542. 1840. 

 Micrampelis lobata Greene, Pittonia,2: 128. 1890. 



Stem nearly glabrous, angular and grooved, 

 branching, climbing to a height of i5-25, 

 sometimes villous-pubescent at the nodes. 

 Petioles i'-i/ long; leaves thin, roughish on 

 both sides, deeply cordate at the base, 3-7- 

 lobed to about the middle, the lobes triangu- 

 lar-lanceolate, acute or acuminate, the mar- 

 gins remotely serrulate; staminate flowers very 

 numerous in narrow compound racemes; pistil- 

 late flowers solitary, or rarely 2 together; fruit 

 ovoid, green, about 2' long, armed with slen- 

 der spines. 



Along rivers, and in waste places, Maine to 

 Minnesota and Ontario, south to Virginia (accord- 

 ing to Cogniaux), Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Kan- 

 sas and Texas. Eastward, mostly occurring as 

 an introduced plant. July-Sept. 



4. CYCLANTHERA Schrad. Ind. Sem. Hort. Goett. 1831. 



Climbing, annual or perennial, mostly glabrous vines, with forked or simple tendrils, usu- 

 ally digitately compound leaves and small white or greenish monoecious flowers. Calyx 

 cup-shaped, 5-toothed. Corolla rotate, deeply 5-parted. Staminate flowers racemose or pani- 

 cled, the stamens united into a central column; anther 1, annular in our species. Pistillate 

 flowers solitary; ovary obliquely ovoid, beaked, 1-3-celled, with 2 ovules in each cavity; 

 style short; stigma large, hemispheric. Fruit spiny, obliquely ovoid, beaked, at length 

 irregularly dehiscent, few-seeded. [Greek, circle-anther.] 



About 40 species, natives of America. 



i. Cyclanthera dissecta (T. & G. ) Arn. 

 Cut-leaved Cyclanthera. (Fig. 3488.) 



Discanthera dissecta T. & G. Fl. N. A. i: 697. 1840. 

 Cyclanthera dissecta Arn. in Hook. Journ. Bot. 3: 280. 



1841. 



Annual; stem grooved and angular, glabrous, 

 branching, climbing to a height of 3-4, or strag- 

 ling. Petioles i / -2 / long; leaves digitately 3-7- 

 foliolate, the leaflets oval or oblong, usually acute at 

 each end, j^ / -2 / long, rough on both sides, den- 

 tate, or somewhat lobed; staminate flowers race- 

 mose, borne on a peduncle y z '-2' long; pistillate 

 flowers solitary, very short-peduncled; fruit nar- 

 rowed at the base, slightly oblique, about \' long, 

 armed with slender spines. 



Thickets, Kansas to Texas, Louisiana and northern 

 Mexico. July-Sept. 



