160 GOURD FAMILY. 



O. verruc6sa, Wartt, Long-neck, and Crook-neck Sqbash, Vege- 

 table Marrow, &c. Fruit mostly hard-fleshed at maturity, the surface 

 warty, ribbed, or sometimes smooth and even, from 2° to a few inches in length 

 in the' very various forms, in a remarkable one 3° -4° long and little thicker 

 than a man's arm. 



§ 2. Stalks and bright green 5 - 7-lobed leaves pubescent with soft hairs : fruit-stalk 



5-ridged, prominently enlarged where it joiits the fruit, the central pulp 



hardly thready. 



C. moscha,ta, Musky, China, or Barbary SOuash, &c. Cult, for 



the edible fruit, which perfects only S., and is club-shaped, pear-shaped, or 



long-cylindrical, with a glaucous-whitish surface. 



§ 3. Stalks and almost kidney-shaped slightly or obtusely 5-lobed leaves roughish- 



hairy : flower-stalks tei-ete ; that of the fruit thick, many-striate but not ridged 



and groaned: inner pulp copious and not thready. 



C. m&,xima, Great or Winter Squash, &c. Fruit rounded, depressed, 



often much wider than high, or (as in Ohio S.) ovate and pointed, usually 



banded lengthwise, varying from 6' to 3° in length or breadth, the hard flesh 



commonly yellow or orange. The crowned or Turban Squashes have the 



top of the-fruit projecting beyond an encircling line or constriction which marks 



the margin of the adherent calyx-tube. 



3. CITBltliLTJS, WATERMELON. (Name made from Citrus, Latin 

 for Orange or Citron.) (g 



C. vulgaris, Watermelon. Cult, from Asia. Prostrate, with leaves 

 deeply 3 - 5-lobed, and the divisions again lobed or sinuate-pinnatifid, pale or 

 bluish ; the refreshing edible pulp of the fruit, in which the dark seeds are im- 

 bedded, consists of the -enlarged and juicy placentse, which are reddish or rarely 

 white. — The so-called Citron of our gardens is a variety with a firm or hard 

 flesh, used for preserving. 



4. CtrCXJMIS, MELON and CUCUMBER. (The Latin name.) ® 

 C. M^lo, Melon, Muskmelon. Leaves round-heart-shaped or kidney- 

 shaped, the lobes if any and sinuses rounded ; fruit with a smooth rind and 

 sweet flesh, the edible part being the inner portion of the pericarp, the thin and 

 watery placentse being discarded with the seeds. The Serpent Melon, some- 

 times called Serpent-Cucumbee, is a strange variety, occasionally met with, 

 with a long and snake-like fruit. 



C. sativus, Cucumber. Leaves more or less lohed, the lobes acute, the 

 middle one more prominent, often pointed ; fruit rough or muricate when young, 

 smooth when mature, eaten unripe. 



5. MSIiOTHBiIA. (An ancient Greek name for some sort of grape.) ^ 

 M. ptodula, from Virginia S., is a delicate low climber, with roundish 



or heart-shaped and 5-angled or lobed roughish leaves, minute flowers, in sum- 

 mer, and oval green berries. 



6. ECHINOCYSTIS, WDLD BALSAM-APPLE. (Name from Greek 

 for hedgehog and bladder.) 



E. lob^ta. Low grounds, chiefly N. & W., and cult, for arbors : tall- 

 tlimbing, smoothish, with strongly and sharply 5-lobed leaves, copious and 

 rather pretty white flowers, produced all summer, and oval fruit 2nong, dry 

 and bladdery after opening ; seeds flat. ® 



7. SiCYOS, STAR-CUCUMBER. .(Ancient Greek name of Cucumber.) 



S. angul&tus. A weed in damp or shady grounds, commoner S., climb- 

 ing high, clammy-hairy, with roundish heart-shaped and 5-angled or slightly 

 lobed leaves, inconspicuous flowers, and little bur-like fruits beset with decidu- 

 ous barbed prickles. The tendrils are very active in their movements, and in a 

 warm day coil by a visible motion after contact with a solid body. (2 



