GOURD FAMILY. Cucurbitaceae. 
GOURD FAMILY. Cucurbitaceae. 
A large family, chiefly of the tropics, climbing or trailing, 
herbaceous vines, usually with tendrils, rather juicy, with 
no stipules; leaves alternate, with leaf-stalks, usually lobed 
or cut; flowers some staminate and some pistillate; calyx 
bell-shaped or tubular, usually five-lobed; petals mostly 
united, usually five, on the calyx; stamens generally three, 
with short filaments, often united; ovary inferior; fruit 
fleshy, often with a hard rind, usually with flat seeds. 
There are many kinds of Micrampelis, nativesof America. 
A graceful, decorative vine, with many 
Chikeothe, tendrils and spreading to a great distance, 
_ Wild Cucumber : h 7 f 
Micrémpelis sometimes as much as thirty feet, partly 
fabdcea (Echino- climbing over bushes and partly on the 
cystis) ground, springing from an enormous 
be emia bitter root as large as a man’s body, the 
Summer = 2 
California leaves slightly rough. The pretty little 
flowers are half an inch across, the calyx 
with small teeth or with none and the corolla cream-white, 
with from five to seven lobes; the staminate flowers in 
loose clusters and the pistillate ones single. The fruit is 
peculiar and conspicuous, a big green ball, very prickly 
and measuring two inches across. The Indians used to 
make hair-oil out of the seeds. This is also called Big- 
root and Man-in-the-ground. 
There are several kinds of Cucurbita, natives of America, 
Asia, and Africa. This is the Latin name for the Gourd. 
This is a near relation of the common 
aoe Pumpkin and Squash and resembles them. 
Cuciirbita It is an exceedingly coarse, but very 
foetidissima decorative vine, with bristly stems, trail- 
Yellow ing on the ground and sometimes twenty- 
Spring 
five feet long. The leaves are about eight 
inches long, bluish-gray, thick and velvety, 
covered with bristles and exceedingly unpleasant to touch 
but handsome in appearance. The gaudy flowers measure 
five or six inches across, with a bristly calyx and bell-shaped, 
orange-yellow corolla. The root is enormous, sometimes 
six feet long, the fruit is a smooth, yellow gourd, and the 
whole plant has a horrible smell. This is found in dry soil, 
from Nebraska west, and is common in southern California 
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Southwest, etc. 
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