286 CUCURBITACEJl. 



1. P. Hookeri, Mndl. Dioecioas ; leaves oblong or lanceolate, mucronate-bluntish, 

 quite entire, tapering into the petiole, shining above, lurid- villous or glabrate beneath ; aments 

 elongated with distant flower-pairs: S axillary, branched, cernuous, ? erect, terminal 

 on small branchlets ; bracts connate at the base, exceeding the flower ; berry globose.— 

 Hook. Ic. t. 333.— Garrya Fadyenii, .5bo/i;. /-Leaves black in drying, 4"-li"long, li"-6"' 

 broad : veins in a lax network, prominulons above ; aments hoary-villous, l"-3" long, or at 

 length longer in $ ; <? calyx globose, li'" diam. ; berry 3'" diam., crowned with the subu- 

 late, spreading stigmas.— Hab. Jamaica!, Macf., Hartw., Fd., M'Nai, March, in mountain 

 woods, common in the Blue Mountains, Port Koyal ; [Sieixa Maestra in Cuba I]. 



LXXVII. .CUCURBITACE^. 



Flowers usually unisexual. Stamens 5, or less by abortion, inserted into the calyx or the 

 Bympetalous corolla, often triadelphous : anthers large, extrorse (or marginal), usually flexuose. 

 Fistil paracarpous ; ovary inferior, mostly 3-celled by the involute placentas : placentas 3, 

 usually many-ovulate : stigmas distinct. Fruit pulpy. Seeds exalbuminous. — Succulent, 

 herbaceous vines, scandent by tendrils ; leaves peflmatinerved, exstipalate. 



Many Oucuriitacea are cultivated, the mucilaginous berry being often eatable. Thns, in 

 the West Indies, the Musk Melon [Oucumis Meld), the Cucumber (C. satimts), the Water 

 Melon {GitrulVus vulgaris), the Bottle Gom-d [Lagenaria vulgaris), the Pumpkin or White 

 Gourd {Oucurhitg, Pepo, forms of which are the Squash and the Succade Goui'd),thePompion 

 {C. maxima), the Torchon {Luffa, sp. sec. Cr.), the East Indian 0'kra{lMfaacutangula),t'i\e 

 Cerasee {Momordica Balsamina and Gharantia), the Chocho {Sechium edule), the Viper-snake 

 Gourd {Trichomnthes colubrina). Several species are used in medicine for a drastic prin- 

 ciple, peculiar to their sap, e.g. the Sequa-seed, or Cocoon antidote {Feuillea cordifoliiij. 

 Shells of the Towel Gourd, or Strainer Vine {Luffa acutangula), the Bottle Gourd, and 

 others, are used for domestic purposes. 



Teibe I. CTJCVEBITEJE. — Tendrils juxiapetiolar (i.e. transformed from a single 



abortive leaf.) 



1. SECHIUM, P. Br. 



Corolla rotate: tube bearing 10 nectariferous glands. Stamens monadelphons : anthers 

 distinct : cells bent upwards and downwards. Ovary unilocular : ovnle single, pendulous. 

 Fruit large, indehiscent. — Flowers monoecious. 



1. S. edule, <SW. Leaves cordate- 5 -angular, pointed; tendrils 3(-5-fid) ; S racemes 

 axillary, with a single $ flower from the same axil ; fruit obovate-oblong, glabrous, usually 

 muricate, with 5 longitudinal furrows. — Jacq. Amer. Piei. t. 345. — Chayota, Jacq. Sicyos, 

 Jacq. — Boot large, fleshy ; stem smooth ; leaves scabrous ; flowers yellow, S 3'". ¥ 5" -6'" 

 diam. ; fruit about 4" long : " seed half-exserted during germination." — Hab. Jamaica !, 

 Dist., iu thickets ; [Cuba; cultivated in all the West Indian islands]. 



S : Calyx 5-dentate. Corolla rotate. Stamens triadelphous : anthers all connate in a 

 cylindrical column : cells bent upwards and downwards. Ovary 3-celled, constricted below 

 the calyx-limb : cella 2-ovulate. Berry indehiscent. — Howers monceeious, in axillary ra- 

 cemes or single. 



This genus, comprising, besides Bryonia glandulosa, Poepp. Endl. (N. Gen. t. 175), and 

 several species roughly figured in the El. Elumiueusis (10. t. 85, 87, 88, 89), is distinguished 

 from Bryonia by its synantherous male flowers, and approaches Cephalandra, which is 

 said to have polyspermous fruits. Momordica macropoda, Poepp. Endl. (1. o. t. 173), is also 

 closely allied in habit, but will prove a distinct genus, presenting iUaments cohering below 

 the top, and a polyspermous, 8-valved fruit. 



3. C. raceiuosa, Gr. Leaves puberulous, roundish, protracted at the base, mucrouate, 

 inferior 3(-5)-lobed to the middle, superior sinuate-subentire ; tendrils 2-3 -fid ; flowers 



