THE VOICE OF THE DESERT 



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we are concerned, is principally tropical or subtropical 

 and has supplied the pumpkins and squashes of the vege- 

 table garden. There are no wild species native to the east- 

 ern United States and those which are cultivated are 

 mostly annuals which require a good deal of moisture and 

 have quite ordinary root systems. The finger gourd of the 

 desert looks like a typical member of the group, with yel- 

 low pumpkin-like flowers and striped hard-shelled fruits 

 three or four inches in diameter, quite similar to those 

 often grown in the East for ornament. But come upon one, 

 as I happened to do not long ago, which has been torn by 

 a torrential summer rain from its bed beside a wash, and 

 you will be amazed by a tuber weighing eight or ten 

 pounds. Without leaves or stems it might be anything. In 

 fact I did not know what my specimen was until I had 

 planted it in my garden and got, a few weeks later, the 

 unmistakable palmated leaves with which I had been long 

 familiar without guessing from what an imposing root 

 they came. In fact this gourd tuber looks quite a bit like 

 that of the night-blooming cactus. 



The necessity for some special adaptation is obvious. 

 Gourds need a long growing season to mature their fruits. 

 Moreover, their leaves are thin and watery, adapted nei- 

 ther for storing nor for holding water as the succulent 

 plants do. Under desert conditions they could liot hope to 

 have soil moisture available during the whole of that long 

 growing season. Hence the great tank below ground which 

 can be drawn upon both to get a start in early summer 

 and then, after the short period of midsummer rain, to 

 carry on through hot, dry late August, September and 

 October. 



Clearly the queen of the night and the finger gourd hit 



