SICYOS ANGULATUS. —STAR-CUCUMBER. Ill 
seed, surrounded, finally, by a thin, dry covering. Each of the 
little “cucumbers” we see in our cluster is indeed nearly all 
seed. It is from the somewhat stellate appearance of this 
cluster of seed vessels that the common name of star-cucumber 
is derived. It is sometimes called “single-seeded cucumber,” for 
reasons already made obvious. Aiton says it is commonly called 
“Cho-cho vine;’ 
’ 
but this is probably an error, the name 
belonging to the Sechium edule, a plant of the same natural 
order growing in the West Indies. 
One of the most remarkable incidents in the life of the star- 
cucumber is its amazing growth under favorable circumstances. 
Dr. John M. Coulter, at page 72 of first volume of the “ Botanical 
Gazette,” speaking of the Lower Wabash, in Indiana, says: 
“These low rich bottoms have yielded such monsters in growth, 
especially among the climbers, that one is reminded of a South 
American jungle,” and among these climbers refers especially to 
the “ single-seeded cucumber, Szevos angulatus, matting all bushes 
and vegetation within ten feet of its root into a thicket, or 
climbing up a neighboring tree to the distance of sixty-three 
feet” 
Dr. Darlington, in his “Flora Cestrica,” notes that “this 
cucumber-like vine has found its way into some gardens, where 
it is something of a nuisance, and rather difficult to be got rid 
of,” though the amiable old botanist did not seem to have a 
heart to include it among the farm evils in his “Agricultural 
Botany.” But Dr. Michener, in his “ Manual of Weeds,” has less 
tenderness for the beautiful vine. He says it is “an unwelcome 
vagrant from the gardens, which requires to be closely watched, 
wherever it may occur.” The writer of this has often watched 
‘it, but not as an “unwelcome vagrant,” or as a vagrant in any 
case. It loves to grow about old wood-piles, or in any place 
where there is an abundance of decaying vegetable matter; and 
it often does loving service in covering up the remains of old 
carts or farm implements that are too often left in most unsightly 
conditions about farm buildings. It is indeed pleasant to watch 
