68 CUCURBITACEAE 
An American genus of about 10 species, confined to western North America and adjacent Mexico. Type 
species, Marah muricatus Kell. 
Mature erg Ke et ly smooth or bearing scattered weak, fleshy spines; seeds spherical or orbicular in outline 
and strongly compressed. 
Ovary = Siclles flowers tapering to a beak; fruit ovoid, usually attenua te at th 
- oreganus, 
Ovary of pistillate flowers spherical with the beak arising abruptly from the ovary; fruit spherical 
tsonii. 
Mature fruit with crowded, slender, acicular prickles or stout spines; seeds neither mhetieat nor orbicular in 
outline and strongly compressed (compressed in M. juntabugonsis’. 
Staminate flowers aah campanulate, the lobes erect and recurved distally; fruit aes cm. long. 
. M. horridus. 
Staminate fl with rotate-sp g lobes, the tube shallowly basin-shaped; fruit 2.5— 3 cm. long. 
Mature fruit ovoid to oblong. 
Fruit 8—14- aE the seeds not over 2 cm. long, not compressed; leaves usually lobed to below the 
iddle. 4. M. macrocarpus. 
Fruit 2—4-seeded, the seeds about 3 cm. long, compressed; leaves mostly not lobed to the middle. 
5. M. guadalupensis. 
Mature fruit globose, except for the short beak. 
Staminate inflorescence mostly few-flowered, the flowers bright white; leaves esa i D aera d 
parted to the middle. 6. M.it 
a ee ee many-flowered, the flowers greenish; leaves typically with ieee: broad, 
triangular lobes 7. M. fabaceus. 
1. Marah oreganus (Torr. & Gray) Howell. Western Wild Cucumber or Coast 
an-root. Fig. 5073. 
Sicyos angulatus Hook. FI. ae Sar i ate 1833. Not L. 
Sicyos oreganus Torr. & Gra 1,N. Am de Aigin 1840. 
arah muricatus Kell. Proc. eit proves fs 1855. (Nomen confusum, not Echi tis muricatus Kell.) 
Remnen oregana Torr. Pacif. R. Rep. 6: Sp 1858. (Nomen nudum) 
h 76. 
. Wa 
Bchinocustic oregana Cogn. Mem. Acad. Sci. aa 28: 87. 1878. 
Marah oreganus Howell. Fl. N.W. Amer. 239. 1898. 
s glabrous or somewhat scabrous, reaching several meters in length. Leaves suborbicular 
to ke cordate, uusally scabrous above and often pubescent beneath especially along the veins, 
8-20 cm aves 5-8-lobed to a mi 
the ‘eka sometimes dentate on the margin, basal sinus deep and usually closed, blade m 
exceeding the petiole in length; staminate flowers always in long slen ee racemes, inc rae ihe 
20-35 1 
peduncle 35 cm. long, the pedicels slender, 5-20 mm. long; corolla white, 8-15 mm. broad, the 
corolla-tube basin-shaped, the lanceolate-oblong lobes about equaling or a little shertae than the 
tube, rotately spreading and the margin sometimes recurved; pistillate pela white, the lobes 
rotately spreading, the pedicels 6-20 mm. long; ovar id, ering to a glabrou ak, 
young spines sometimes bearing soft septate hairs; fruit ovoid, glab: 47 long, rounded 
and sometimes —— narrowed 2A the base, attenuate and nag ielied ae ed at the apex, 
completely glabrous or sparsely muricate with weak fleshy spines up to 1 cm. in length; seeds 5-6, 
orbicular in outline, teciciele, Hattened ae rather undulate, 18-22 mm. cae 4-7 mm. thick, often 
rk —. 
s and edges of woods, mainly mid Transi tion Zone; southern British Columbia southward west 
Op: 
ye cast of bee Cascade Mountains thro “— the ae River gap. Type locality: ‘‘On the Oregon [Columbi 
iver 
2. Marah watsonii (Cogn.) Greene. Taw Man-root. Fig. 5074. 
Echinocystis muricatus Kell. Proc. Calif. Acad. 1: 57. 1855. Not Maral icatus Kell. 
si heen muric Breen Wats. Proc. Amer. Acad. 11: 139. 1876. 
n DC. esi Phan. 3: 819. 1881. 
Marah seutioutt nif Geeenk Pysliess Bot. Obs. 2: 36. 1910. 
Stems slender, 2-3 m. long, seabne by simple or branched tendrils. — glabrous, paler 
beneath, suborbicular to reniform in outline, broader than lon ne, the blades 7-11 cm. wide, the 
basal sinus open, rounded, the petioles shorter than or equa ing the Deeg in eligrindg dee ply es. 
lobed, sometimes to within 1 cm. of the base of the bla e, the sinuses betw lobes acute or 
rounded ; lobes of the leaf narrowed below, widened above and 3- pon vig 4 obed, the secondary 
lobes sometimes angled; staminate inflorescence racemose, 4-20 cm. long, few- flower ed (2-10), 
the flowers campanulate, white, 4.5-6. m. long, the nee ronda: at base, much surpassing js 
obtuse or triangular, sp beat. sceoiilate lobes ; pistillate flowers axillary, the pedicel 2-2.5 c 
long, similar to the staminate flowers or a little’ larger, th ry spherical, the es t 
long, arising abruptly from the ovary; fruit globo. depressed-globos th or soy 
e€, smoo 
uricate with broad-based weak spines, .pale green and marked with darker veins ; seeds 
spherical, 11-14 mm. in diameter, not at all compressed. 
hruh: the di belt, U peace Zone; Shasta County south in the Inner Coast 
ieee Ss eS ee sang and tn ‘ ie Siar Sag S ces da hs posa County, California. Type locality: Placerville, 
Eldorado County. Warckh-Ace 
