SYSTEMATIC BOTANY OF THE CULTIVATED CUCURBITS 



Tendrils simple, connective produced beyond the pollen 



sacs 7. Cucumis 



Corolla campanulate; 



Anthers free 3. Sicana 



Anthers united 9. Cucurbita 



1. TRICHOSANTHES L. Sp. PL 1008. 1753 — 

 Cucumeroides Gaertn. Fruct. 2:485. 1791. Invol- 

 ucrnriu Ser. Mem. Soc. Phys. Gen. 3':25. 1825. 

 Eopepon Naud. Ann. Sci. Nat. V. 5:31. 1866. 



Platygonia Naud. /. c. 33. — Trichosanthos St. -Lag. 



Ann. Soc. Bot. Lyon. 7:56. 1880. 



Annual or perennial herbs, monoecious or dioecious; tendrils 

 -' 5. branched; rarely simple; leaves simple, entire or lobed or com- 

 pound; flowers white, the pistillate solitary, the staminate sometimes 

 racemose; calyx tube long cylindrical, dilated above; corolla 5-lobed 

 or parted, the lobes often fimbriate; stamens 3; ovary 1 -celled with 

 3 parietal placentae, style long, stigmas 3, occasionally 2; fruit fleshy 

 with numerous seeds. 



There are about 50 species of this Asiatic genus of 

 which only the following is of particular interest here, 

 though several others are reported to have edible fruit. 



T. Aiisiuina L. Sp. PL 1008. 1753. Snake 

 Gourd. Cucumis Angtrina L. Sp. PL erf. 2. 1437. 

 1763. Trichosantbes colubrina Jacq. f. Eclog. t. 128. 

 1844. Involucraria Anguina M. Roem. Syn. Pepon. 



97. 1846. 



Annual climbing or long-running herb: leaves deltoid- or 

 broad-ovate, deeply cordate, apiculate dentate, slightly sinuate and 

 sometimes shallowly 3-lobed, glabrate to glabrous, 4-9 inches long; 

 flowers long-peduncled, 2 inches or more across; fruit 1—6 feet long, 

 slender, more or less contorted, greenish-white, glabrous; seeds 

 ! _ inch long, rather thick, the edges scalloped. 



2. LAGENARIA Ser. Mem. Soc. Phys. Gen. 3 1 : 

 25. 1825. 



Only one species known: 



L. siceraria 'Molina") Standi. Field Mus. Pub. 

 Bot. 3:435. 1930. White-flowered Gourd. — Cucur- 

 bita lagenaria L. Sp. PL 1010. 1753. C. siceraria 

 Molina Sagg. Chil. 133. 1782. C. leucantha Duch. 

 in Lam. Encycl. 2:150. 1786. Pepo lagenarius 

 Moench, Meth. 653. 1794. Cucurbita idolatrica 

 Willd. Sp. PL 4: 607. 1805. C.pyrotheca Hort. ex Steud. 

 Nom. 245. 1821. Lagenaria vulgaris Ser. I. c. 25. 1825. 

 Cucurbita vittata Blume, Bijdr. 932. 1826. Lagen- 

 aria idolatrica Ser. in D. C. Prod. 3:299. 1828. L. 

 vittata Ser. I. c. Cucumis bicirrha Forst. ex Guill. 

 Zeph. Tahit. 56. 1836. Lagenaria cochinchinensis 

 M. Roem. Syn. Pepon. 13. 1846. Cucurbita piri- 

 formis Roem. 1. c. 89. Lagenaria microcarpa Naud. 

 Rev. Hort. 65. 1855. L. verrucosa Hort. ex Gar- 

 tenfl. 39:106. 1890. L. Lagenaria Cockerell, Bull. 

 Torr. Club. 19:95. 1892. L. virginalis Hort. ex 

 Gard. Chron. III. 11 :85. 1892. L. leucantha Rusby, 

 Mem. Torr. Club. 6:53. 1896. 



Annual herbaceous vine, viscid pubescent, musky-scented, 

 with branched tendrils; leaves cordate-ovate to reniform-ovate, 

 sometimes shallowly lobed, apiculate-dentate, 6-12 inches across; 

 flowers solitary, monoecious, rarely dioecious i white, 2-4 inches 

 across; petals 5; $ flower long-petioled: anthers lightly cohering but 

 not connate; ovary with 3 placentae; fruit variously shaped, many 

 seeded. I 



Native to the Old World Tropics, the culture of the 

 white flowered gourds has spread throughout the warm 

 and temperate regions of the whole earth. While some 

 forms are edible and are to be found on the markets of 

 most large cities, others are grown only for the hard- 

 shelled ripe fruits or gourds. These vary in size from 

 3 inches to 10 or 15 times that length and in shape from 

 disk-like to globular, club-shaped, bottle -shaped, anC. 

 variously coiled and contorted forms. The edible types 

 are easy of culture and general in distribution though the 

 vegetable marrows have, because of their higher quality, 

 tended to supplant the Lagenaria in many places. 



3, MOMORDICA L. Sp. PL 1009. 1753. Zucca 

 Commers. ex Juss. Gen. 398. 1789. Muricia Lour. 

 Fl. Cochinch. 2:596. 1790. Neurosperma \evro- 

 sperma) Raf. Am. Mo. Mag. 40. 1818. Neuro- 

 spermum Bartl. Ord. 275. 1830. 



Annual or perennial climbing or long-running herbaceous vines; 

 leaves entire, lobed, or palmately compound with 3 to 9 leaflets; 

 tendrils simple or bifid; flowers monoecious or rarely dioecious, 

 yellow or occasionally white, the peduncle often furnished with large 

 bracts, c? flowers solitary, racemose or corymbose, 5 solitary; corolla 

 rotate to open campanulate, 5 -parted to the base, or more rarely 

 5-lobate, 2 of the segments wider than the others; stamens 3, rarely 

 2 or 5 by failure of the filaments to adhere); ovary with three pla- 

 centae, style slender, stigmas 3 entire or bifid: fruit oblong or nearly 

 spherical, often spiny tuberculate, usually indehiscent but occasion- 

 ally trivalvate; seed few to many. 



Over 60 species native to the tropics of the Old 

 World, of which the following two are commonly culti- 

 vated in the United States bcth for ornamental use and 

 the food value of the fruits. 



1. M. BalsaminaL. Sp. PL 1C09. 1753. Balsam- 

 apple. Neurosperma cuspidata Raf. Journ. Phys. 

 101. 1819. M. garicpensis E. Mey. ex Drege, Zwei. 



pfl.-geogr. Dok. 202. 1844. 



Annual, monoecious vine with simple tendrils; branches slender, 

 glabrous, long: leaves thin, glabrous, broadly deltoid-ovate to 

 cordate-orbicular in outline, 3- to 5-lobed with broad sinuses, 

 acute-mucronate, 2^1 inches across; flowers orange yellow with darker 

 center, f 1-1 1 i inches across with very slender long (1 J 4— 2 ! 2 inches) 

 peduncles, having a serrate bract on the upper portion, 9 smaller 

 with bractless short {%— J^ inch) peduncles; fruit broadly ovoid, 

 1 ' 2-3 inches long, crested, tuberculate, or sometimes nearly smooth, 

 orange. 



2. M. Charantia L. Sp. PL 1009. 1753. Balsam 

 Pear. M. indica Stickm. Herb. Amb. 24. 1754. 

 M. elegans Salisb. Prod. 158. 1796. M. anthel- 

 mintica Schum. & Thonn. Beskr. Guin. PL 423. 

 1827. Cucumis intermedins Roem. Syn. Pepon. 

 880. 1846. M. Jagorana C. Koch, Wochenschr. 45, 

 1858. M. chinensis | sinensis) Hort. ex Bull. Soc. 

 Tosc. Ort. 18:14. 1893. Sicyos Fauriei Lev. in 

 Fedde, Rep. Spec. Nov. 10:150. 1911. 



Somewhat similar to M. Balaamina but with larger more 

 deeply lobed leaves, :~° flowers with an entire bract below the middle 

 of the slender peduncle: fruit oblong or oval, 4-8 inches long, orange- 

 yellow covered with blunt tubercles, dehiscent apically into 3 valves 

 at maturity, then showing the scarlet arils of the numerous seeds. 



4. Ll'FFA Adans. Fam. 2:138. 1763. Turia 

 Forsk. Fl. Aeg.-arab. 165. 1775. Trevouxia (Tre- 



