124 CUCURBITACE^. 



longitudinally torulose. Native of Asia, cultivated for the juicy, yellowish, 

 delicately flavored flesh of the mature fruit. June, July. 



3., C. Anguria, L. Prickly Cucumber. 



Stem prostrate, slender, hisped; tendrils simple; leaves palmately and deep sin- 

 uate lobed, cordate at base ; fruit oval-ovoid or sub-globose, prickly. Native of 

 Jamaica. Fruit about the size of a hen's egg; cultivated and used for pieklea. 



4. C. Citrullus, Ser. Water Melon. 



Stem prostrate, slender, hairy; tendrils branching; leaves palmately 5-lobed, 

 very glaucous beneath; lobes mostly sinuate-pinnatifid, all the segments obtus*; 

 flowers solitary, on hairy peduncles, bracted at base; fruit elliptical, smooth. 

 Native of Africa and India. Cultivated for its large and delicious fruit. June, 

 August. 



6. LAGENAMA. Ser. 



Gr. lagenos, a flagon or bottle ; from the form of the fruit. 



Flowers monoecious. Calyx bell-shaped, 5-toothed, obo- 

 vate. Stamens 5, triad elphous ; anthers very long, twisted. 

 Stigmas 3, thick, 2-lobed, sub-sessile. Pepo woody, 1-celled 

 many-seeded; seeds ariled, obcordate, compressed, margin 

 tumid. — An annual herbaceous plant, climbing by branching 

 tendrils, with axillary solitary, white flowers. 



L. vulgaris, Ser. Calabash. Bottle Gourd. 



Softly pubescent; leaves roundish-cordate, abruptly acuminate, denticulate, with 

 2 glands beneath at base; flowers on peduncles; fruit club-shaped, inflated, at 

 length smooth. Native of the Tropics ; cultivated for the rind of the fruit, which 

 is used for dipping water, &c. Flowers white. July, Aug. 



7. CUCURBITA. Linn. 



A Latin word signifying a vessel. 



Flowers monoecious. Corolla bell-shaped j petals united 

 and coherent with the calyx. Stam. Fls. Calyx 5-toothed. 

 Stamens 5, triadelphous; anthers syngenesious, straight, 

 parallel. Pist. Fls. Calyx 5-toothed, upper part decidu- 

 ous after flowering. Stigmas 3, thick, 2-lobed. ! Pepo 

 fleshy or woody, 3 to 5-celled. Seeds numerous, thickened 

 at the margin, obovate, compressed, smooth. — Annual herbs 

 with prostrate running stems, mostly branched tendinis, and 

 yellow solitary axila ry flo wers. 



1. C. Pepo, L. Pumpkin. 



Hispid and scabrous ; leaves (very large) cordate, palmately 5-lobed or angled, 

 finely toothed; flowers axillary; stem fls. on long peduncles; fruit very large, 

 roundish or oblong, smooth, furrowed and torulose. Native of the Levant. 

 Long oultivated as a useful kitchen vegetable, or for cattle. Flowert large, yellow. 



