ORDER CTJCURBITACE^J, OR GOURD TRIBE. 437 



which are furnished with tendrils. The flowers are very frequently 

 monoecious or dioecious ; but they are sometimes complete. The 

 calyx and corolla are usually small ; the former (as in the Cucum- 

 ber) is not unfrequently absent; and the latter in most cases 

 assumes the appearance of a calyx. Their parts are five in 

 number, as are also the stamens, which very commonly adhere 

 into a tube inclosing the style. The ovarium consists of three or 

 five carpels united together ; these are enveloped by the prolonged 

 receptacle or fleshy tube of the calyx (just as in the Apple, . 595). 

 The ovary, however, has only one cell, the partitions between the 

 carpels having been obliterated ; but in this single cell we mav 

 readily see, on cutting across a Cucumber, that the ovules are 

 arranged on three lines which pass up the sides, and which are, 

 therefore, parietal placentas like that of the Heartsease. It is 

 curious that, in the Melon and Cucumber, which are usually 

 regarded as dioecious species, the development of staminiferous or 

 pistilliferous flowers should be entirely governed by the degree of 

 heat to which the plants are exposed ; the former being produced 

 when the proportion of heat to light has been considerable, and 

 the latter under contrary circumstances. The plants of this 

 order are almost entirely natives of hot climates, and can 

 only be grown elsewhere under a considerable amount of arti- 

 ficial heat. 



607. Although we are commonly accustomed to consider 

 Melons and Cucumbers as quite free from injurious properties 

 (except in causing indigestion in weak stomachs), this character 

 does not extend to the whole order. The bitter purgative drug 

 termed Colocynth is obtained from the pulp of a sort of Gourd, 

 which is a native of the Levant, Arabia, &c.; and from the 

 Momordica Elaterium, or Spirting Cucumber, a still more active 

 preparation has been obtained, a few grains of which are so violent 

 in their operation as even to destroy life. This bitter purgative 

 principle is not absent in the common edible fruit, but is present 

 in smaller proportion. Besides furnishing palatable food, this 

 order is very useful to man in supplying him with vessels of 

 various forms and sizes. Some gourds are nearly globular in 

 form ; and the rind, when the fruit is cut in half and the inte- 



