114 PLANTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



Found on the banks of streams, on the Connecticut and Housa- 

 tonic Rivers ; a climbing vine, with cordate, 5-lobed leaves, and 

 tendrils ; fruit 2-4 inches long, thick, covered with prickles, 

 echinate, and having 4 large, long, and thick seeds ; blossoms in 

 August. 



Sicyos. L. 19. 15. 



One of the Greek names for Cucumber ; a few species further 

 South. 



5. angulatus. L. Single-seeded Cucumber. Grows also 

 on the banks of streams ; often cultivated, as it will run far, and 

 form a dense and large arbor ; a climbing, small vine, with whitish 

 flowers, and greenish ; bears several fruits in one cluster, each 

 about an inch or more long, and containing one very large seed ; 

 blooms from June to September ; leaves large, cordate, angu- 

 lar, toothed. 



The powerful cathartic of the shops, known as Elaterium, is 

 merely the inspissated juice of the fruit, known under the title of 

 squirting cucumber, M. elaterium, L., because the ripe fruit 

 throws out its juice and seeds with much force ; this is a native 

 of the South of Europe, and sometimes found in our more ex- 

 tensive gardens. 



ORDER 182. PLANTAGINE.E. The Rib-Grass 



Tribe. 



Only one genus in this order belongs to Massachusetts. The 

 plants are commonly without a stem, that is, they have only a 

 flower-stalk, their leaves are radical, and their flowers in a long 

 spike. The calyx and corolla are distinct, the former being 4- 

 leafed, and the latter 4-parted ; the flowers unattractive. 



Plantago. L. 4. 1. 



P. major. L. Common Plantain. One of the plants that 

 seem to follow man in the temperate climes, so that where he 

 rears a hut or tills the soil, it appears to cheer him on his way. 

 The Indians called it the White Man's Foot. Leaves somewhat 



