CUCUEBITACE^. 85 



tho projections between them. Petals deep-purple.— S. W. 

 Ontario. 



■2. L. Saliea'ria, L. (Spiked Loosestrife.) More or less 



downy and tall. Flowers purple, crowded, and forming an 



interrupted spike. Stamens twice as many as the petals, in 



^two sets. — Atl. Prov. Also at Ottawa and opposite Mon- 



treaU 



2. NES^'A, Commerson, Juss. Swamp Loosestbife. 



N. vertieilla'ta, H. B. It. . {Dec'odon vertidllatus, Ell.) 

 Stems curving, 2-6 feet long, 4-6-sided. Leaves lanceolate, 

 mostly whorled. Flowers purple, in the axils of the upper 

 leaves. Calyx bell-shaped, with 5-7 erect teeth, with sup- 

 plementary projections between them. Stamens 10, exserted, 

 5 longer than the rest. — Swamps. 



Oedeb XL. CUCURBIT A' CE^. (Gottkd Family.) 

 Herbs, climbing by tendrils. Flowers monoecious. Calyx- 

 tube adherent to the 1-3-celled ovary. Corolla commonly 

 more or less gamopetalous. Stamens usually 3, united by , 

 their tortuous anthers, and often also by the filaments. 

 Leaves alternate, palmately lobed or veined. 



Syuopsis of tlic Genera. 



1. Sl'cyos. Flowers greenish-white, small ; the staminate corymbed, 



the pistillate clustered in a head ou a long peduncle. Corolla 5- 

 cleft, with a spreading border. Style slender ; stigmas 3. Ovary 

 1-celled. ' Fruit dry and indeluscent, i>rickly, bur-like in appear- 

 ance. ' 



2. Ecliluocys'tls. Flowers whitish, small; the staminate in long 



compound racemes, the pistillate in small clusters from the same 

 axils. Corolla e-parted. Stigma broad, almost sessile. Ovary 

 2-celled, 4-3eeded. Fruit fleshy, becoming dry, clothed with weak 



1. SI'CVOS, L. Stae Cucbmeer. 

 S. ang^Ula'tns, L. A clammy-hairy weed in damp yards. 

 Leaves roundish heart-shaped, 5-angled or lobed. 



2. ECHINOCTS'TIS, Torr. and Gray. Wii^d Balsam-Apple. 

 E. loba'ta, Torr. and Gray. Climbing high about dwel- 

 lings. Leaves ^ieeply and sharply 5-lobed. Tho oval fruit 

 2 inches long. 



