138 WEEDS AND USEFUL PLANTS. 



ORDER XXX. CUCUEBITA'CE^E. (GOURD FAMILY.) 



Herbaceous mostly succulent vines with tendrils, alternate palmatcly veined or lobed 

 leaves and monoecious or dioscious (often monopetalous) flmvers. Calyx of 4 - 5 (rarely 6) 

 sepals, united into a tube, and in the fertile flowers adherent to the ovary. Petals as 

 many as the sepals, more or less united, and cohering with the calyx. Stamens 8-5 in- 

 serted into the base of the corolla or calyx, distinct or variously united by their filaments 

 and long, mostly tortuous, anthers. Ovary 1-3-celled, the thick fleshy placenta: often 

 tilling the cells ; stigmas thick, dilated or fringed. Fruit (Pepo) usually lleshy, with a 

 firm (sometimes a ligneous and occasionally a membranous) rind. Seeds flat, destitute of 

 albumen ; cotyledons foliaceous. 



This Order so well known for its culinary products contains some which are pos- 

 sessed of active medicinal properties (such as the Colocynth, of the shops Cucumis Colocyn- 

 this, L.) ; but few, if any, of Agricultural interest, beyond those here mentioned. 



* Petals connected at the base only. 

 1. LAGENA'BIA, Ser. , GOURD. 



[Greek, Lagenos, a flagon or bottle ; from the shape of the fruit.] 



Calyx campanulate or subturbinate, 5-toothed, the segments subulate- 

 lanceolate, shorter than the tube. Petals 5, obovate, inserted within and 

 beneath the margin of the calyx. Stamens 5, triadelphous, the fifth one 

 free. Stigmas 3, subsessile, thick, 2-lobed, granular. Fruit at first 

 fleshy and pubescent, finally with a smooth ligneous rind. Seeds coin- 

 pressed, obovate, somewhat 2-lobed at apex, the margin tumid. 



1. L. VULGA'RIS, Ser. Softly pubescent ; stem climbing ; leaves round- 

 ish-cordate, acuminate, denticulate, with two glands at base ; fruit cla- 

 vate-ventricose. 



COMMON LAGENARIA. Calabash. Bottle Gourd. 

 Fr. Calebasse. Germ. Der Kuerbiss. Span. Calabaza. 



Whole plant somewhat viscid, and emitting a fetid musky odor. Stem 10-15 or 20 feet 

 long, slender, branching, climbing by tendrils which are 2-4-cleft. Leaves 4-6 or 8 in- 

 ches long ; petioles 2 6 inches long Flowers axillary, on long peduncles ; corolla white, 

 with green nerves and veins. Fruit 12-18 inches long, and 4-6 or 8 inches in diameter, 

 unequally bi-ventricose, finally nearly hollow or partially filled with the loose dry sube- 

 rose placentae, the rind yellowish or pale brown, thin and hard. Seeds in a dry mem- 

 branous arillus. 



Gardens and lots : cultivated. Native of the tropical regions. Fl. July -August. Fr. 

 September - October. 



06s. The thin firm woody shell of the fruit affords a very convenient 

 kitchen utensil, and the plant is sometimes cultivated for the sake of 

 that fruit, by cottagers and farmers who cannot afford, or do not choose 

 to purchase more costly utensils. 



There is cultivated occasionally, for the table, a cucurbitaceous fruit 

 of extraordinary length, called " Vegetable Marrow," which seems to 

 belong to this species, and perhaps may be the var. clavata of Seringe. 



2. CU'CUMIS, L. CUCUMBER AND MELON. 



[Said to be derived from the Celtic, Cucc, a hollow vessel.] 



Calyx tubular-campanulate, 5-toothcd, the teeth subulate, scarcely ag 

 long as the tube. Petals 5, nearly distinct and but slightly adnate to 



