White and Greenish 



One-seeded, Bur- or Star Cucumber; Nimble 



Kate 



(Sicyos angulatus) Gourd family 



Flowers Small, greenish-white, 5-parted, of 2 kinds : staminate 

 ones in a loose raceme on a very long peduncle ; fertile ones 

 clustered in a little head on a short peduncle. Stem : A 

 climbing vine with branched tendrils ; more or less sticky- 

 hairy. Leaves: Broad, 5-angled or 5-lobed, heart-shaped 

 at base, rough, sometimes enormous, on stout petioles. 

 Fruit: From 3 to 10 bur-like, yellowish, prickly seed-ves- 

 sels in a star-shaped cluster, each containing one seed. 



Preferred Habitat Moist, shady waste ground ; banks of streams. 



Flowering Season June September. 



Distribution Quebec to the Gulf States, and westward beyond 

 the Mississippi. 



In a damp, shady, waste corner, perhaps the first weed to 

 take possession is the star cucumber, a poor relation of the musk 

 and water melons, the squash, cucumber, pumpkin, and gourd of 

 the garden. Its sole use yet discovered is to screen ugly fences 

 and rubbish heaps by climbing and trailing luxuriantly over 

 everything within reach. That it thinks more highly of its own 

 importance in the world than men do of it, is shown by the pre- 

 caution it takes to insure a continuance of its species. By 

 separating the sexes of its flowers, like Quakers at meeting, it 

 prevents self-fertilization, and compels its small-winged visitors 

 to carry the smooth-banded, rough pollen from the staminate to 

 the tiny pistillate group. By roughening its angled stem and 

 leaves, it discourages pilfering ants and other crawlers from 

 reaching the sweets reserved for legitimate benefactors. So 

 extremely sensitive are the tips of the tendrils that by rubbing 

 them with the finger they will coil up perceptibly ; then straighten 

 out again if they find they have been deceived, and that there is 

 no stick for them to twine around. Give them a stick, however, 

 and the coils remain fixed. 



Rattlesnake-root; White Lettuce, or Canker- 

 weed ; Lion's-foot 



(Nabalus albus) Chickory family 



Flower-heads Composite, numerous, greenish or cream white, 

 or tinged with lilac, fragrant, nodding; borne in loose, open, 

 narrow terminal, and axillary clusters. Each bell-like flower- 



260 



