CUCUMIS 



CUCURBITA 



409 



water-melon like; fls. small, the pistillate long-stalked: 

 fr. 1-3 in. long, encumber-like but more spiny. Supposed 

 to be native to the Amer. tropics. B.M. 5817. — Cult, both 

 for the oddity of its frts. and for the making of pickles. 

 The Gherkins of mixed pickles, however, are young 

 Cucumbers. 



peduncle very hard and deeply furrowed when mature, 

 not enlarging next the fr. : the fr. very various in form, 

 color, season, size.— Probably native to trop. Amer., but 

 unknown wild. Cult, by the Indians when Amer. was 



G. acutdngulus, Hort.= 

 curbita. 



=Luffa. 



■ C.perennis, Jaines=Cu 

 L. H. B. 



CUCUKBIT. A plant of the genus Curcur- 

 bita. Sometimes shortened to Cucurb. 



CtJCtBBITA (classical name). Ciicur' 

 bitdcece. Goued. Pumpkin. Squash. Vine 

 like herbs, tendril-bearing, inhabitants 

 warm countries. Fls. monoecious, large, 

 yellow, solitary in the axils, the stam- 

 iuate long stalked, the pistillate short- 

 stalked : corolla 5-lobed : stamens 3, 

 arising from the bottom of the 11., and united in a 

 column : stigmas 3, but 2-lobed : ovary inferior, en- 

 closing a hollow receptacle: tendrils 2-3 forked. About 

 10 species. The morphology of the Pepo or Gourd-fruit 

 may be illustrated by the Turban Squash. (Pigs. 592, 593, 

 594.) In this fruit, there is a '' squash inside a squash." 

 The inner part bears the corolla and the styles. It is the 

 ovary, The corolla is attached about the edge of the 



593. Young Turban Squash, in which the withered 

 corolla has become detached, but hangs on 

 the remains of the styles and stigmas. 



inner Squash, as the withered remains in Pig. 592 show. 

 Sometimes the withered corolla becomes detached, but 

 hangs onto the withered remains of the stigmas, as in 

 Pig. 593. The longitudinal section of the flower (Pig. 

 594) explains the structure. The corolla is shown at c d. 

 The top of the ovary is at O. The stigmas are on the 

 ovary. The part encircling the ovary (outside of O ) is 

 the hollowed receptacle. Ordinarily the receptacle is 

 closed at the top, completely confining the ovary; but 

 in the Ttirban Squashes the receptacle does not extend 

 over the top of the ovary, and 

 the ovary therefore protrudes. 

 The older morphologists held 

 this outer part of the Squash to 

 be adnate calyx, rather than re- 

 ceptacle. The Cucurbits are 

 monographed by Cogniaux, DC. 

 Monogr. Phaner. 3. Also by 

 Naudin, Ann. Sci. Nat. (Bot. ) 

 IV. vol. 6. See Pumpkin and 

 Squash. 



A. Xrvs. lobed: stalks of fruits 



strongly ridged. 



F6po, Linn. {C. Melopepo, 



Linn.). Pumpkin. Pigs. 595, 



596. Annual : long - running, 



prickly on stems and petioles : 



594. Section of Flower of Ivs. 3-5-lobed, dark dull green: 



Turban Squash. corolla-tube widening upwards. 



Showing the ovary inside tl^e pointed lobes erect : ealyx- 



the hoUowed receptacle, lobes narrow, not leaf - like : 



595. Plant of Cucurbita Pepo. 



discovered, in fields of maize. For studies in the nativity 

 of the Pumpkins and Squashes, see De Candolle, Origin 

 of Cultivated Plants; Gray and Trumbull, Amer. Joum. 

 Sei. 25 : 370 ; Sturtevant, Amer. Nat. 1890 : 727 ; Witt- 

 mack, Ber. der Deutschen Bot. Gesell. 6: 378 (1888). 



Var. condinsa. Bosh Pumpkins. Scallop and Sum- 

 mer Ckookneok Squashes. Plant compact, little or not 

 at all running. Of horticultural origin. 



Var. oviSera. {0. ovifera, "Linn.). Gourd. Fig. 597. 

 Plant slender, running: Ivs. smaller than in G. Pepo, 

 usually very prominently lobed: fr. small, hard and in- 

 edible, egg-shaped, globular, pear-shaped, oblate, often 

 striped. R.H. 1894, p. 429. — Sold in many vars. by seeds- 

 men, under the names of G. Pepo vars. pyriformis, 

 depressa, annulata, etc. See Gourd. 



mosch&ta, Duchesne (C. meloncefdrmis , Carr.). 

 CusHAW. China, Canada Crookneck and Winter 

 Crookneok Squashes. Figs. 598, 599, 600. Annual : 

 long-running, less prickly and sometimes soft-hairy: 

 Ivs. more rounded than those of G. Pepo, but lobed, often 

 grayish : fl. with a widening tube, and large, erect lobes : 

 calyx -lobes large, often leaf -like: peduncle becoming 

 deeply ridged and much enlarged next the fr. Possibly 

 of East Asian origin. 



596. Stem of Cucurbita Pepo— Early Sugar Pumpkin. 



A A. Jjvs. not lobed {except sometimes on young shoots): 

 stalks of fruits not prominently ridged. 

 mixima, Duchesne. Squash. Figs. 601-604. Annual: 

 long-running, the stems nearly cylindrical, little prickly 

 and often hairy: Ivs. orbicular or kidney-shaped, com- 

 monly not lobed, the basal sinus wide or narrow, the 

 margin shallowly apiculate-sinuate : corolla-tube nearly 



