Fruits and Seeds. 



There are, however, many other more or less similar 

 cases. Thus the Squirting Cucumber, a common 

 plant in the south of Europe, and one grown in 

 some places for medicinal purposes, effects the same 

 object by a totally different mechanical arrange- 

 ment. The fruit is a small cucumber (fig. 73), and 

 when ripe it becomes so gorged with fluid that it is 



the SQUIRTING CUCUMBER. 



in a state of great tension. In this condition a very 

 slight touch is sufficient to detach it from the stalk, 

 when the pressure of the walls ejects the contents, 

 throwing the seed some distance. In this case of 

 course the contents are ejected at the end by which 

 the cucumber is attached to the stalk. If any one 



