240 CUCURBIT ACE^. CumrUta. 



mately 5-cleft to the middle with lanceolate acuminate lobes, which are often ob- 

 tusely toothed near the base, usually exceeding the petioles : flowers 3 inches long, 

 on stout pedicels, lobes acutish : calyx-tube an inch long, the teeth broader and 

 three lines long or more : fruit globose : seeds 5 lines long. — Proc. Am. Acad. xi. 

 137. 



San Diego County ; C'ajon Valley {Cleveland) ; Larken's Station, near the Jacumba Slountaiiis, 

 Palmer. 



4. C. Californica, Torrey in herb. Canescent with a short white rigid pubes- 

 cence : leaves thick, 5-lobed, two inches broad, the triangular lobes acute or acumi- 

 nate, mucronate : tendrils slender, parted to the base : flowers an inch long or more, 

 on pedicels j to 1 inch long ; calyx 4 or 5 lines long, the linear teeth 2 lines long. 

 — Watson, 1. c. 138. 



Imperfect specimens of this evidentlj'- distinct species were collected by Dr. Pickering on the 

 Wilkes Exploring Expedition, in Sacramento Valley, and what is apparently the same was also 

 found l:)y Emory on Cariso Creek in the southern part of the State. 



2. MELOTHRIA, Linn. 



Flowers monoecious ; the sterile in axillary racemes ; the fertile solitaiy. Calyx 

 campanulate, shortly 5-toothed. Corolla 5-i3arted into oblong or linear-oblong seg- 

 ments. Sterile flowers with the stamens on the calyx-tube : filaments short, free ; 

 anthers free, short and ovoid, rarely all 2-celIed ; the cells straight and connective 

 usually produced. Pistillate flower on a long and slender pedicel, with 3 abortive 

 or rarely perfect stamens : ovary ovoid, constricted below the flower, with 3 pla- 

 centas and numerous horizontal ovules : style short, on an annular disk : stigmas 

 2-lobed. Fruit small, baccate, juicy. Seed ovate, flattened. — Slender herbs, with 

 simple tendrils, and small yellow or white flowers. 



About 30 species, in the warmer regions of the world. 



1. M. pendula, Linn. Stems very slender, climbing : leaves rather thin, cor- 

 date, an inch ur two broad, repand-toothed, or acutely 5-angled or lobed, scabrous 

 or nearly smooth : sterile flowers few, in small racemes, 2 lines long, yellowish ; 

 calyx-teeth minute : fertile flowei's on filiform pedicels at lengtli as long as the 

 leaves: ovary oblong: fruit subglol)ose, half an inch long, blackish when ripe: seed 

 numerous, 1;^- lines long. — Torr. & Gray, Fl. i. 541. 



From the southern Atlantic States westward across the continent. In Southeastern California, 

 on the Colorado River, Bigelow. 



3. MEGARRHIZA, Torrey. Big-Root. 

 Flowers monoecious ; tlie sterile racemose or panicled ; the fertile solitary, from 

 the same axils. Calyx-tube broadly campanulate : teeth obsolete or very small. 

 Corolla rotate, deeply 5 - 7-lobed, with oblong papillose segments. Sterile floAvers 

 with the stamens at the base : filaments short and connate : anthers free or somcAvhat 

 adherent ; the cells somewhat horizontal, flexuous. Pistillate flowers pedicelled : 

 abortive stamens present or none : ovary oblong to globose, usually more or less 

 echinate, 2-celled or more : cells 1 - several-ovuled : ovules ascending, horizontal, or 

 pendulous, the attachment mostly parietal : style short : stigma 2 - 3-lobed or parted. 

 Fruit mostly echinate, more or less fibrous within, becoming dry, at length bursting 

 irregularly 1 Seed large, turgid, ovoid or subglobose, smooth, not margined ; hilum 

 linear, acute : cotyledons thick, remaining under ground in germination. — Stems 



