T12 SICYOS ANGULATUS, —-STAR-CUCUMBER. 
it under these circumstances and note how rapidly it grows, and 
transforms what was unpleasant into a picturesque and often 
beautiful scene. The rapidity of its growth already referred to 
will always make it a subject of interesting study. The plant 
from which our illustration was taken sprouted from a seed in 
May, and before frost had rambled over bushes some thirty feet 
away. It had many hundreds of branches. An estimate was 
formed of their number, and it was found that if these branches 
were placed end to end they would make a line of two thousand 
feet! Many of the lower leaves die as the growth progresses, 
but the calculation gave about one hundred square feet of leaf- 
surface on the vine at one time, from which an immense amount 
of moisture must be exhaled during the twenty-four hours. The 
stem at the ground is no thicker than a lead-pencil, and the 
reader can imagine how rapid must be the flow of water through 
this narrow stem in order to supply the enormous exhalation. 
We look with wonder on the mammoth tree of California and 
similar vegetable productions,—but not less wonderful are the 
facts of plant-growth everywhere about us, and in few things are 
they more strikingly illustrated than in the growth of the star- 
cucumber. 
It grows in most of the states east of the Rocky Mountains, 
except the extreme northeast and northwest portions. 
