XXIX. CUCUKBITACE^:. 157 



XXIX. CUCURBITACEJE. THE GOUKD FAMILY. 



Herbs with long stems, prostrate, or climbing by means of 

 axillary tendrils ; alternate, palmately- veined leaves ; and 

 unisexual flowers, either solitary or in bunches or racemes in 

 the axils of the leaves. Calyx 5-toothed. Petals united in a 

 single 5-lobed corolla or rarely distinct, inserted in the margin 

 of the calyx. Stamens in the male flowers inserted on the 

 calyx or corolla ; anthers curved, forming a wavy line on the 

 short, thick filaments, which are sometimes free, but often so 

 combined as that the number of stamens has been differently 

 described as 5 or 3 only, or sometimes all the filaments form 

 but one mass. Ovary in the females inferior, divided into 3 or 

 5 cells. Stigmas from 3 to 5, 2-cleft, either sessile or supported 

 on a style. Fruit succulent or juicy, either indehiscent or 

 bursting open elastically when ripe. 



A considerable Order, chiefly tropical, and more especially African, with 

 but very few species extending into Europe or northern Asia. It is very 

 easily recognised, as well by its foliage and tendrils as by the structure of 

 the flowers. The only Order at all allied to it is that of the Passifloracece 

 or Passion-flowers, almost all of them American, and chiefly tropical, but 

 of which some species are well known among our greenhouse or stove 

 plants. To the Cucurbitacece belong the Cucumbers, Melons, Watermelons, 

 Gourds, Pumpkins, Vegetable Marrows, &c, of our gardens, most of them 

 of very ancient cultivation, but unknown in a wild state. 



I. BRYONIA. BKYONY. 



Calyx with 5 small teeth. Corolla 5-lobed. Stamens combined into 

 3, of which 2 are double and 1 single. Style 3-lobed, with capitate or 

 2-lobed stigmas. Fruit a globular berry. 



1. B. dioica, Jacq. (fig. 358). Common B. — Eootstock perennial, 

 thick and tuberous, sometimes branched ; the annual stems climbing to a 

 great length, and, as well as the whole plant, rough with minute hairs, 

 containing an acrid juice, and emitting a sickening smell in drying. Ten- 

 drils simple or branched, and spirally twisted. Leaves more or less deeply 

 divided into 5 or 7 broad angular, and coarsely toothed lobes, of which the 

 middle one is the longest. Flowers dioecious, the males several together 

 in stalked racemes, of a pale yellow ; the corolla broadly campanulate, 

 about half an inch diameter ; the females much smaller, generally 2 to- 

 gether, nearly rotate, with a globular ovary. Berries red or orange, about 

 4 lines in diameter, containing several flat, nearly orbicular seeds. 



Common in hedges and thickets, in central and southern Europe to the 

 Caucasus. Occurs in most English counties, and common in some, but 

 rare in the north and in Wales, and does not extend into Scotland or 

 Ireland. Fl. summer. It must not be confounded with the black Bryony, 

 Tamus communis, a very different plant, with entire, shining leaves. 



