138 • PASSIFLORACEJE. (PASSION-FLOWEE FAMILY.) 



Order 47. PASSIFLORACE^. (Passion-Flower Fam.) 



VtTies, climbing by tendrils, with perfect flowers, 5 monadelphous stamens, 

 and a stalked 1-celled ovary free from the calyx, with S or i parietal placen- 

 tCE, and as many club-shaped styles ; — represented by the typical genua 



1. PASSIFIiORA, L. Passion-Floweb. 



Calyx of 5 sepals united at the hase, imbricated in the bud, the throat crowned 

 with a double or triple fringe. Petals 5, arising from the throat of the calyx. 

 Stamens 5 ; filaments united in a tube which sheathes the long stalk of the ovary, 

 separate above : anthers large, fixed by the middle. Beny (often edible) many- 

 seeded ; the anatropous albuminous seeds invested by a pulpy covering. Seed- 

 coat brittle grooved. — Leaves alternate, palmately lobed, generally with stip- 

 ules. Peduncles axillary, jointed. (Name, from passio, passion, and flos, a 

 flower, given, by the early missionaries in South America to these flowers, in 

 which they fancied a representation of the implements of the crucifixion.) 



1. P. liltea, L. Smooth, slender ; leaves obtusely 3-lobed at the summit, the 

 lobes entire; petioles glandless; flowers greenish-yellow (1' broad). IJ. — Damp 

 thickets, Ohio, Virginia, and southward. July - Sept. — Fruit ^' in diameter. 



2. P. inca.rn^t<l, L. Nearly smooth ; leaves S-cleJi ; the lobes serrate ; 

 petiole bearing 2 glands ; flower large (2' broad), nearly white, with a triple pur- 

 ple and flesh-colored crown ; involucre.3-leaved. — Dry soil, Virginia, Kentucky, 

 and southward. May- July. — Fruit of the size of a hen's egg, oval. 



Order 48. CUCURBITACE^. (Gourd Family.) 



Herbaceous mostly succulent vines, with tendrils, dioecious or moncecious 

 (often monopetalous) flowers, the calyx-tube cohering with the 1-3-cetted 

 ovary, and the 3-5 stamens commonly more or less united by their often tor- 

 tuous anthers as well as by the filaments. Fruit (pepo) fleshy, or sometimes 

 membranaceous. — Limb of the calyx and corolla usually more or less com- 

 bined. Stigmas 2-3. Seeds large, usually flat, anatropous, with no albu- 

 men. Cotyledons leaf-like. Leaves alternate, palmately lobed or veined. 

 (Mostly tropical or subtropical.) 



Synopsis. 



1. SICYOS. Corolla of the sterile flowers flat and spreading, 5-lobed. Fruit prickly, inde- 



hisccnt, 1-celled, 1 seeded. 



2. ECHINOCYSTIS. Corolla of the sterile flowers flat and spreading, G-parted. Pod prickly, 



2-celled, 4-sceded, bursting at the top. 

 8. MELOTHRIA. Corolla of the sterile flowers somewhat campanolate, 5-cleft. Berry 

 smooth, many-seeded. 



1. SICYOS, L. One-seeded Stak-Cucumbee. 



Flowers moncecious. Petals 5, united below into a bell-shaped or flattish 

 coroUa. Stamens 5, all cohering. Ovary 1-celled, with a single siispende/l 



