115 ECBALLIUM ELATERIUM 



spreading, equal, ovate-oblong, acute segments, slightly hairy 

 inside, sulphur-yellow veined with pale green. Male flowers : 

 Stamens 3, inserted on the base of the corolla, filaments short, 

 hairy, anthers with an expanded, flattened and crumpled connec- 

 tive, one 1- celled, the others 2 -celled, the cells elongated, placed 

 along the edge of the dilated connective; no pistil. Female 

 flowers : Stamens absent or represented by 3 sterile filaments ; 

 ovary inferior, ovoid, fleshy, 1 -celled, with 3 large fleshy parietal 

 placentas filling up this cavity (and making it look 3-celled), with 

 numerous stalked horizontal ovules in a row along either side ; 

 styles 3, somewhat connected below, green, bifid above, and with 

 a large papillose stigma on the outer side of the branches. Fruit 

 pendulous or nodding from the recurved tip of the elongated, 

 gradually tapering, slightly hispid, succulent stalk, oblong-ovoid, 

 rounded at the base, more acute at the apex where it is capped by 

 the withered flower, 1^ to 2J inches long, fleshy, firm, pale yellowish- 

 green, covered with short, pale, succulent papillge terminating in 

 hair-like points, pericarp thick, white within, filled with a watery 

 juice in which the seeds are immersed, when ripe separating from 

 the stalk suddenly, and violently expelling the juice and seeds 

 through the orifice thus formed; after this phenomenon the 

 fruit becomes narrower and hollow, the cavity being lined with 

 soft green pulp. Seeds numerous, closely packed, but loose in 

 the watery pulp, oblong-ovoid, slightly compressed and keeled, 

 smooth and polished, bright pale brown, testa thin, brittle, with a 

 thin layer of soft tissue externally, inner coat very thin and mem- 

 branous ; embryo large, white, cotyledons plane-convex, radicle at 

 the hilum, short, broad, pointed; no endosperm. 



Habitat. A common weed in waste places in the South of 

 Europe, throughout the Mediterranean district and reaching as 

 far to the east as Persia. It was very early cultivated in gardens 

 in this country (before 1568), and is now grown in small quantity 

 for use at Mitcham and Hitchin. 



The singular mode of expelling the seeds (from which the plant 

 has its name) is explained by the engorgement of the central 

 pulp of the fruit by fluid which passes into it by osmosis from the 



