404 CUCUEBITACEAE (GOURD FAMILY) 



fragrant, each subtended by a chaffy bract tapering to an awn 

 longer than the flower ; stamens four, inserted on the tube of the 

 corolla ; ovary inferior, one-celled. Some flower communities pro- 

 gress in their bloom from the base upward, others from the top 

 downward; but Teasels girdle the middle of the heads with the 

 first flowers and proceed both ways, though the last flowers of 

 September are likely to be as round as clover-heads and produce 

 all their blossoms at once with an air which says, " Time's up ! All 

 out 1" Fruit a hard, wedge-shaped, square, black, grooved achene, 

 about a quarter-inch long. (Fig. 282.) 



Means of control 



Cut first-year rosettes from the roots with sharp hoe or spud, 

 in autumn or early spring. Flowering stalks should be pulled or 

 closely cut before the earliest heads ripen seed. 



WILD GOURD 



Cuctirbita fcetidissima, H. B. K. 

 (Cuctirbita perennis, Gray) 



Other English names: Missouri Gourd, Calabazilla, Fetid Wild 



Pumpkin. 



Native. Perennial. Propagates by seeds. 

 Time of bloom : April to July. 

 Seed-time: July to November. 



Range: Nebraska to California, southward to Texas and Mexico. 

 Habitat : Dry or sandy soil ; fields and waste places. 



Root yellow inside, carrot-like, very thick and fleshy, often more 

 than six inches in diameter and sometimes exceeding five feet in 

 length. Stem stout, angled, ridged, rough-hairy, many-branched, 

 fifteen to twenty-five feet long, trailing and rooting at the joints or 

 climbing by means of branching tendrils. Leaves alternate, rather 

 thick, four inches to a foot in length, ovate-triangular, long-pointed, 

 usually truncate at base or sometimes heart-shaped, rough above, 

 gray-hairy beneath, sharply toothed, with rough-hairy petioles less 

 than half as long as the blades. The whole plant has a disagree- 

 able, fetid odor, especially when bruised.. Flowers solitary in the 

 axils and unisexual ; calyx five-lobed, ridged, and bristly ; corolla 



