HISTORY AND BOTANY OF THE MELON 3 



sex in the same flower; dioecious, when the two 

 sexes are borne on different plants, as is the case 

 with the poplars, willows, etc., in which case one 

 plant is fertile and the other is sterile, although 

 both are necessary to the production of fruit. 



In the melons, the flowers are usually monoecious, 

 the calyx coherent with the ovary, corolla more 

 commonly monopetalous — united into one — and 

 stamens usually three, of which one has a one- 

 celled, the others two-celled anthers, but the an- 



Fig. 1. 



Muskmelon vine showing female blossom at a, and male 

 blossom at b. 



thers are commonly tortuous, twisted and often all 

 combined in a head and the filaments sometimes all 

 united in a tube or column. In the muskmelon, 

 the sterile or male flowers are borne in clusters with 

 short stems, the fertile ones are solitary and mostly 

 on short stems in the axil of the leaves. (See Fig. 

 1.) In the watermelon the two kinds of flowers 

 are solitary in the axil of the leaves. 



The muskmelon belongs to the genus Cucumis, to 

 which belongs the cultivated cucumber of our gar- 

 dens, and Linnaeus gave it the specific name Melo. 

 Cucumis melo is therefore its botanical name. Its 



