192 GOURD FAMILY. 



club-shaped, pear-shaped, or long-cylindrical, often large with a glau- 

 cous-whitish surface, often green-striped. 



* * * Stalks and almost kidney-shaped or roundish leaves roughish 

 hairy ; flower stalks terete, that of the fruit thick, many-striate but not 

 ridged and grooved; inner pulp copious and not thready ; flower tube 

 nearly cylindrical or even gibbous below, the lobes obtuse and drooping. 



C. mdxima, Duchesne. WINTER and TURBAN SQUASH. Fruit rounded, 

 or ovate and pointed, often grooved lengthwise, varying from 6' to 3 in 

 length or breadth, the hard flesh yellow or orange. The crowned or 

 TURBAN SQUASHES have the top of the fruit projecting beyond an encir- 

 cling line or constriction which marks the margin of the adherent calyx 

 tube. Here belong the best fall and winter squashes, as HCBBARD, 

 BOSTON MARROW, etc. 



3. CITRULLUS, WATERMELON. (Name made from Citrus, Latin 

 for Orange or Citron.) () 



C. vulgaris, Schrad. WATERMELON. Cult, from Asia. Prostrate, 

 with leaves deeply 3-5-lobed, and the divisions again lobed or sinuate- 

 pinnatifid, pale or bluish ; the refreshing edible pulp of the fruit, in 

 which the dark seeds are imbedded, consists of the enlarged and juicy 

 placentae, which are reddish or rarely white. The so-called CITRON of 

 gardens is a variety with a firm or hard flesh, used for preserving. 



4. CUCUMIS, MELON and CUCUMBER. (The Latin name.) 



C. Melo, Linn. MELON, MUSKMELON, CANTALOUPE. Leaves round- 

 heart-shaped or kidney-shaped, the lobes, if any, and sinuses rounded ; 

 fruit with a smooth rind and sweet flesh, the edible part being the inner 

 portion of the pericarp, the thin and watery placentae being discarded 

 with the seeds. S. Asia. Var. flexudsus, the SERPENT MELON, some- 

 times called SNAKE CUCUMBER, is a strange variety with a long and 

 snake-like fruit. Var. Dudaim, with small curiously mottled fruits grown 

 for their novelty and agreeable odor, is the VEGETABLE POMEGRANATE, 

 QUEEN ANNE'S POCKET MELON, or C. ODORATfssiMcs. Var. Chito is the 

 VEGETABLE ORANGE or LEMON or APPLE, also called VISE PEACH, dis- 

 tinguished by slender vines and yellow sourish fruits the size of a goose 

 egg- 



C. sathus, Linn. CUCUMBER. Leaves more or less lobed, the lobes 

 acute, the middle one more prominent, often pointed ; fruit rough or 

 muricate when young, smooth when mature, eaten unripe. S. Asia. 



C. Anguria, Linn. WEST INDIAN or BURR GHERKIN. GOOSEBERRY 

 GOURD. Stems slender and hispid ; leaves deeply cut into 3-o narrow 

 segments ; flowers small, long-stalked ; fruit l'-2' long, rough and spiny. 



5. LUFF A, RAG GOURD, DISHCLOTH GOURD. (Arabic name.) 

 



L. cylindrica^ Roem. A cucumber-like vine with grape-like leaves about 

 6-angled or lobed and irregularly toothed ; fruit 10'-20' long, often curved, 

 cylindrical and smooth, green, pointed at the apex, the interior portion 

 becoming detached when dry and useful as a sponge ; whence the names 

 VEGETABLE SPONGE and DISHCLOTH GOURD. Tropics. 



6. MELOTHRIA. (An ancient Greek name for some sort of grape.) 2/ 

 M. p^ndula, Linn. From Va. S., is a delicate low-climber, with 



roundish or heart-shaped and 5-angled or lobed, roughish leaves, minute 

 flowers, in summer, and oval green berries. 



