122 CUCURBITACE.E. 



airraous. Ovabt adherent, 1-celled; stub short; stigma Tery thick, velvety or 

 fringed. Fecit a pepo more or less succulent, often 1-celled by obliteration. Szkdc 

 fi«W ^Jth no albumen, often winged, 



I. SICYOS. Linn. 



Gr. rikuos, the ancient name of the cucumber. 



Flowers monoecious. Petals 5, united below into a 

 bell-shaped or flattish corolla. Stamens 5, monodelphous 

 or at length triadelphous ; anthers contorted. Styles 3, 

 united at the base. Fruit ovate membranaceous, filled by 

 the single seed, covered with barbed prickly bristles which 

 are readily detached. — Climbing annuals, vnth compound 

 tendrils, and whitish flowers, the sterile and fertile mostly 

 from the same axils, the former corymbed, the latter in a 

 hng-peduncled capitate cluster. 



1. S. angulatus, L. Single-seed Cucumber. 



Stem branching, hairy ; leaves roundish, heart-shaped, and 5-angled-lob«d, th« 

 kfcee minutely toothed, pointed ; pistillate flowers much smaller than the staminatc. 



Banks of streams. July, Aug. A weak climbing vin« with long spiral tendrils. 

 Leaves 3 to 4 inches broad, on long stalks. Flowers whitish, marked with green 

 lines. Fruit % inoh long, ovate, spinous, 8 to 10 together in a crowded cluster. 



2. ECHINOCYSTIS. Torr. & Gray. 



Gr. d&tos, prickly, and kustis, a bladder; in allusion to the appearance of the fruit 



Flowers monoecious. Calyx flattish, segments 5, fili- 

 form subulate. Petals 6, united at the base into an open 

 spreading corolla. Stamens 3, diadelphous. Style 1; 

 Migmas 3, fringed. Ovary 2-celled, with 2 erect ovules in 

 each cell. Fruit globose-ovoid, bristly-echinate, 2-celled, 

 4-seeded. — A rank tall-clwibing annual, with branching ten- 

 drite, sharply 5-lobed thin leaves, and very numerous small 

 greenish-white flowers. 



E. lobata, Torr. & Gray. Wild Balsam Apple. 



Leasees psdinately 5-lobed, cordate at base, lobes acuminate, denticulate ; flotoers 

 small, the barren ones very numerous, in axillary racemes, the fertile ones solitary 

 or several, situated at the base of the raceme. 



Rich river soils. July— Sept. A smoothish running vine. Stem deeply furrowed, 

 with long 3-parted tendrils placed nearly opposite the long petioles. Frvti 1 t«8 

 inches long, at length dry and membranaceous, with 4 large seeds. 



3. MELOTEMA. Linn. 



Flowers polygamous or monoecious. Sterile Flowers, 

 oalyx 3 to 5-toothed ; corolla companulate ; filaments 5, in 

 3 sets. Fertile Flowers, calyx and corolla as in the 



