144 CUCURBITACEjE. 



large, ovoid or more rounded, more or less compressed, encircled by a 

 mere marginal line; hilum linear, acute; cotyledons thick, remaining 

 within the integuments after germination. Our species perennials with 

 very large fleshy fusiform roots. 



* Leaves rather longer than broad; corollas rotate. 



1. M. fabacea (Naud.), Greene. Glabrous, or the younger parts 

 with scattered short curved hairs: stem 1030 ft. long: leaves 26 in. 

 broad, of round-ovate general outline, more or less deeply and angularly 

 5 7-lobed; lobes abruptly acute, mucronate, the sinuses obtuse: sterile 

 fl. 1530 in slender racemes, the pedicels 12 lines long; corolla 34 

 lines broad, of a dull or greenish white: fertile fl. 56 lines broad, 

 without abortive stamens: ovary globose, densely echinate, 2-celled, 

 4-ovuled: //. globose, "2 in. long, densely covered with stout pungent spines 

 % 1 in. long: seeds 4, obovoid, 10 lines long^ 6 lines broad. Var. 

 agrestis, Greene. Stems 24 ft. long, prostrate or merely trailing; 

 leaves and fruits much smaller, the latter armed only sparsely with very 

 short spines. The type is common all along the seaboard, growing in 

 thickets and climbing high over shrubs and small trees. The variety is 

 a weed in grain fields along the eastern foothills of Mt. Diablo. Fl. 

 Jan. April. 



* * Leaves broader than long; corollas campanulate. 



2. M. Marali (Wats.), Greene. Stems 3 30 ft. long: leaves reniform 

 or round-cordate, 3 6 in. broad, pedately lobed: racemes of sterile 

 flowers %l ft. long; corolla % in. long or more, campanulate, clear 

 white: fertile fl. with abortive stamens; pedicel slender, 2 6 lines long: 

 ovary oblong-ovate, acuminate, more or less clothed with soft spines, 2 

 3-celled; ovules 14 in each cell, ascending or horizontal, attached to 

 the outer side of the cell : fr. ovate-oblong, 4 in. long, attenuate at each 

 end, more or less muricate with short weak spines: seeds horizontally 

 placed, somewhat elliptical or nearly orbicular, compressed, 1 in. long and 

 about half as thick. Shady banks, or open northward slopes, trailing or 

 high-climbing; common about Mt. Tamalpais, also in Alameda and 

 Contra Costa counties. 



3. M. Watsonii (Cogn.), Greene. Slender, not succulent, glaucous: 

 stems 6 8 ft. long: leaves broad-reniform, 5 7-lobed, 24 in. broad, 

 the lobes broader above, sinuate-toothed or -lobed : sterile racemes few- 

 flowered; fl. small, white: fertile fl. without abortive stamens, on slender 

 pedicels 12 in. long; ovary glabrous or muricate: fr. nearly globose, 1 

 in. thick or more, naked or with a few weak spines near the base, 2-celled, 

 %4-seeded: seed nearly globose, % in. thick, attached to the outer side 

 of the cell, marginless. Vaca Mts March May. 



