222 FOUNDATIONS OF BOTANY 



I. CUCURBITA, L. 



Annual or perennial herbs ; stem trailing or climbing, 2-20 

 ft. long. Leaves angular-lobed ; tendrils branching. Flowers 

 monoecious, solitary or in small clusters. Calyx 5-toothed, the 

 limb deciduous. Corolla bell-shaped, 5-lobed. Staminate flowers 

 with 3 stamens and no pistil ; pistillate flowers with 1 pistil 

 and 3 imperfect stamens. Style short; stigmas 3-5, each 

 2-lobed. Fruit 1-celled, with numerous seeds on the 3 parietal 

 placentae.* 



1. C. Melopepo, L. SUMMER SQUASH. Stem rough-hairy, angled, 

 2-5 ft. long. Leaves broadly heart-shaped, angularly 3-5-lobed, 

 rough. Flowers yellow, short-peduncled. Fruit roundish, longitudi- 

 nally compressed, the margin smooth, wavy, or tubercular. Common 

 in cultivation.* 



2. C. verrucosa, L. CROOKNECK SQUASH. Stem rough-hairy, 

 angled and striate, 5-10 ft. long. Leaves cordate, deeply 5-lobed, 

 very rough, long-petioled. Flowers light yellow, long-peduncled. 

 Fruit clavate, the base often slender and curved, smooth or tubercu- 

 late, very variable. Common in cultivation.* 



II. CUCUMIS, L. 



Annual herbs; stems trailing, usually shorter and more 

 slender than in the preceding genus. Tendrils riot forked. 

 Leaves varying from entire or nearly so to deeply cut. Sterile 

 flowers in clusters, fertile ones solitary in the leaf-axils. 

 Corolla of 5 acute petals, which are but little joined at the 

 base. Stamens not evidently united. Style short ; stigmas 3, 

 each 2-lobed. Fruit rather long. Seeds not large, lance- 

 oblong, not margined. 



1. C. sativus, L. CUCUMBER. Leaves somewhat lobed, the 

 middle lobe largest. Fruit more or less covered when young with 

 rather brittle, blackish prickles, which fall off as it ripens. Culti- 

 vated from S. Asia. [Other varieties of the genus Cucumis are the 

 muskmelon, cantaloupe, and nutmeg melon. Other commonly 

 cultivated genera are Citrullus, the watermelon, and Lagenaria, the 

 bottle-gourd. Two wild genera, Echinocyslis, the wild cucumber, 

 and Sicyos, the star cucumber, which blossom through the summer 

 and autumn, are common in the Northern States and the Middle 

 West.] 



