144 CUCURBIT AC EM. 



large, ovoid or more rounded, more or less compressed, encircled by a 

 mere marginal line; hilum linear, acute; cotyledons thick, remaining 

 within the integuments after germination. Our species perennials with 

 very large fleshy fusiform roots. 



* Leaves rather longer than broad; corollas rotate. 



1. M. fabacea (Naud.), Greene. Glabrous, or the younger parts 

 with scattered short curved hairs: stem 10— 30 ft. long: leaves 2— 6 in. 

 broad, of round-ovate general outline, more or less deeply and angularly 

 5— 7-lobed; lobes abruptly acute, mucronate, the sinuses obtuse: sterile 

 fl. 15 — 30 in slender racemes, the pedicels 1—2 lines long; corolla 3—4 

 lines broad, of a dull or greenish white: fertile fl. 5 — 6 lines broad, 

 without abortive stamens: ovary globose, densely echinate, 2-celled, 

 4-ovuled: fr. globose, Zin. long, densely covered with stout pungent spines 

 *4 — 1 in. long: seeds 4, obovoid, 10 lines long, 6 lines broad. Var. 

 sigxestis, Greene. Stems 2—4 ft. long, prostrate or merely trailing; 

 leaves and fruits much smaller, the latter armed only sparsely with very 

 short spines. — The type is common all along the seaboard, growing in 

 thickets and climbing high over shrubs and small trees. The variety is 

 a weed in grain fields along the eastern foothills of Mt. Diablo. Fl. 

 Jan. — April. 



* * Leaves broader than long: corollas carnpanulate. 



2. M. Marah (Wats.), Greene. Stems 3 — 30 ft. long: leaves reniform 

 or round-cordate, 3 — 6 in. broad, pedately lobed: racemes of sterile 

 flowers %—l ft. long; corolla 3^ in. long or more, carnpanulate, clear 

 white: fertile fi. with abortive stamens; pedicel slender, 2 — 6 lines long: 

 ovary oblong-ovate, acuminate, more or less clothed with soft spines, 2 — 

 3-celled; ovules 1—4 in each cell, ascending or horizontal, attached to 

 the outer side of the cell : fr. ovate-oblong, 4 in. long, attenuate at each 

 end, more or less muricate with short weak spines: seeds horizontally 

 placed, somewhat elliptical or nearly orbicular, compressed, 1 in. long and 

 about half as thick. — Shady banks, or open northward slopes, trailing or 

 high-climbing; common about Mt. Tamalpais, also in Alameda and 

 Contra Oosta counties. 



3. M. Watsonii (Cogn.), Greene. Slender, not succulent, glaucous: 

 stems 6 — 8 ft. long: leaves broad-reniform, 5 — 7-lobed, 2 — 4 in. broad, 

 the lobes broader above, sinuate-toothed or -lobed: sterile racemes few- 

 flowered; fl. small, white: fertile fl. without abortive stamens, on slender 

 pedicels 1 — 2 in. long; ovary glabrous or muricate: fr. nearly globose, 1 

 in. thick or more, naked or with a few weak spines near the base, 2-celled, 

 2 — 4-seeded: seed nearly globose, % m - thick, attached to the outer side 

 of the cell, marginless. — Vaca Mts March — May. 



