146 DESCRIPTIVE BOTANY. 



Geography. — The Gourd family, of which the pumpkiu aud squash are 

 members, delights in a warm climate, but fruits well as far north and south 

 of the equator as the middle of the temperate zones. 



Etjjmology. — Cucurbita is the Latin for gourd, a hollow vessel or a cup, and 

 must allude to the circumstance that these plants are hollow, or become so 

 when allowed to ripen on the vine. Some derive this from the Latin curvitas, 

 crookedness, alluding to the form of some of the club-shaped gourds, whose 

 necks are curved. Pepo is from the Greek ireVwi', a melon. Pumpkin is a- 

 corruption of the French word pompon, a melon. The popular names all 

 explain tliemselves. 



Historij. — The home of the pumpkin is believed to be America. It has 

 been found growing wild in Mexico, and was under cultivation by the abo- 

 rigines in Florida, Mexico, and the West Indies, when these regions were first 

 visited by Europeans. Dr. Gray believed that all tlie species except C. maxima 

 are American. The species aud varieties of this genus have been so confused 

 that this is not certain. 



Use. — The cheese pumpkin and the sugar pumpkin are esteemed for 

 making the celebrated New England pumpkiu pies. They also, like the other 

 varieties, are grown for feeding cattle. They are valuable for milch cows be- 

 cause they not only promote the flow of milk but improve its quality. In 

 Europe the pumpkin pie is prepared by making a circular orifice in the top, 

 the center of which is the stem. Through this hole the seeds and pulp are 

 removed, and the cavity filled with sliced apples, spices aud sugar. The whole 

 is then baked, and served. 



Order XXVIIL UMBELLIFER^. 



Flowers small, 5-merous, superior, in simple or compound umbels. 

 Cal}^ lobes minute, tube adnate to ovary. Ovary 2-celled, each with 

 a pendulous ovule. Fruit, 2 dry indehiscent akenes, separating from 

 a carpophore ; each akene with 5 primary and often 4 secondary ribs. 

 Number of genera, 152. 



APIUM, Hoffm. (Celery.) Calyx without teeth, base of style flat. 

 Petals white, entire, with a small apex bent in. Fruit, egg- or globe- 

 shaped. Carpels nearly straight, with 5 thread-like ribs ; channels 

 with single oil-tubes, except the outer ones, which sometimes have 

 more. Leaves pinnately or ternately divided ; divisions wedge-shaped ; 

 umbels opposite the leaves. Biennial herb. 



A. graveolens, L. Stem 2 to 3 feet high, branching, channelled. Leaves 

 from the root, on long, stout stalks, green ; stem leaves on short stalks. 

 Flowers terminal and axillary, those in the axils on very short foot-stalks ; 

 rays unequal ; petals greenish-white. Fruit subglobular. Flowers in July. 

 Fruit in September. 



The celery sports freely, and many varieties have arisen, for the names 

 of which the student is referred to the seedsmen's catalogues. There are 

 about 20 choice varieties under cultivation by the market gardeners and 

 amateurs. 



Geographi/. — lts geographical distribution is very wide. It is indigenous 

 to Great Britain, all the coast of western Europe, the shores of the Mediter- 

 raueaii; aud it is found in the Peloponnesus, on the foothills of the Caucasus, 



