GENUS I. GOURD FAMILY. 291 
terminal, simple or lobed; ovules few or numerous, anatropous. Fruit a pepo, 
indehiscent, or rarely dehiscent at the summit, or bursting irregularly; or some- 
times dry and membranous Seeds usually flat; endosperm none. 
About 90 genera and 700 species, mainly natives of tropical regions, a few in the temperate zones. 
Flowers large, yellow; prostrate vine. 1. Pepo. 
Flowers small, white or greenish ; climbing vines. 
Fruit glabrous ; seeds numerous, horizontal. 2. Melothria. 
Fruit prickly ; seeds 1 or few, erect or pendulous. 
Fruit dehiscent at the apex or bursting irregularly ; several-seeded. 
Leaves 3-7-lobed ; anthers 3. 3. Micrampelis. 
Leaves digitately ‘compound ; anther 1. 4. Cyclanthera. 
Fruit indehiscent, 1-seeded. 5. Sicyos. 
1. PEPO [Tourn.] Mill. Gard. Dict, Abr. Ed. 4. 1754. 
Rough prostrate vines, rooting at the nodes, with branched tendrils, usually lobed leaves 
mostly cordate at the base, and large yellow axillary monoecious flowers. Calyx-tube cam- 
panulate, usually 5-lobed. Corolla campanulate, 5-lobed to about the middle, the lobes recurv- 
ing. Staminate flowers with three stamens, the anthers linear, more or less united and no 
pistil. Pistillate flowers with 1 pistil; ovary oblong with 3-5 many-ovuled placentae; style 
short, thick; stigmas 3-5, each 2-lobed, papillose; staminodia 3. Fruit large, fleshy, with a 
thick rind, many-seeded, indehiscent. [From the Greek name of some large fruit.] 
About to species, natives of America, Asiaand Africa. Besides the following, some 6 others 
occur in the southern and southwestern United States. Type species: Cucurbita Pepo L. 
1. Pepo foetidissima (H.B.K.) Britton. Missouri Gourd. Calabazilla. Wild 
~ Pumpkin. Fig. 4010. 
Cucurbita foetidissina H.B.K. Nov. Gen. 2: 123. 
fase perennis James in Long’s Exp. 2: 20. 1823. 
Cucurbita perennis A. Gray, Bost. Journ. Nat. Hist. 
6: 193. 1850. 
Stem stout, rough, hirsute, trailing to a length 
of 15°-25°. Root large, carrot-shaped. Petioles 
stout, 3-8’ long, very rough; leaves ovate-trian- 
gular, thick and somewhat fleshy, cordate or trun- 
cate at the base, acute at the apex, 4’-12’ long, 
usually slightly 3-5-lobed, denticulate, rough above, 
canescent beneath; peduncles 1’-2’ long; flowers 
mostly solitary; corolla 23’-4’ long; pepo globose 
or globose-ovoid, 2’-3’ in diameter, smooth, its 
pulp fibrous and bitter. 
Dry soil, Missouri and Nebraska to Texas and 
Mexico, west to southern California. May-—Sept. 
Pumpkins, Squashes, Cucumbers and Melons, cul- 
tivated in many races belong to this genus. Gourds 
belong to Cucurbita Lagenaria L., the type of the 
genus Cucurbita. 
Citrullus Citrillus (L.) Karst., the Watermelon, is 
found escaped from cultivation along river- -shores in Virginia and West Vics: and southward. 
2. MELOTHRIA L. Sp. Pl. 35. 1753. 
Slender, mostly climbing vines, with simple or rarely bifid tendrils, lobed or entire thin 
leaves, and small white or yellow monoecious flowers, the staminate clustered, the pistillate 
often solitary.- Calyx campanulate, 5-toothed. Corolla campanulate, deeply 5-parted. Stamens 
3 in the staminate flowers, the anthers distinct or slightly united, the pistil wanting or rudi- 
mentary. Fertile flowers with 1 pistil; ovary ovoid, constricted below the corolla; placentae 
3; ovules numerous; Style short; stigmas 3, linear. Fruit small, berry-like, pulpy, many- 
seeded. [From the Greek for some vine, probably Bryonia cretica.] 
About 70 species, natives of warm and tropical regions, most abundant in the Old World. 
Beetace the following typical one, 3 or 4 others occur in the southern United States. 
