13^ CALYCIFLOItiE. 



with oblongo-ovate acute papillae, fruit pubescent, 

 when ripe glabrous very smooth with the pulp 

 white and edible. — DC. 



Cucurbita tertia seu lagenaria, flore albo, folio molli, 

 Shane, I. 225. — C. villoso, fructu pyriformi, Browne, 

 354. 



II A B. Fences and waste places. 

 F L. Throughout the year. 



Fruit is of various shapes and sizes. Some are six feet 

 long and two feet thick. The large gourd resembles a 

 bottle in shape having a long neck and large bulb, and 

 when freed of its pulp and seeds will hold several gallons 

 of water. Some aie cylindrical, and serve as powder 

 horns. The African negroes also make of it a musical 

 instrument, resembling a guitar, styled the Banjo, 

 to produce an accompaniment to their simple songs. 

 The pulp is never employed for any purpose. A decoc- 

 tion of the leaves is said to be purgative. The fruit is 

 styled by the French " Calabasse rampanle ou de terre" 



III. Cucumis. 



Calyx tubuloso-campanulate ; divisions subu- 

 late scarcely the length of the tube. Petals 

 slightly united among themselves and to the 

 calyx. ^ Stamens 5, triade'phous. ? Stigmata 

 3, thick, bipartite. Pe'po 3-6-celled, with the 

 seeds ovate, compressed and not margined. 



Name from the Latin cucumis, a cucumber. 



1. Cucumis mclo. The Melon. 



Stem humifuse scabrous cirrhiferous, leaves 

 rounded angular ; Male flowers, with the tube of 

 the calyx subventricose at the base dilated at the 

 apex, stamens included, and anthers shorter than 

 the connective ; hermaphrodite flowers, with the 

 anthers as in the former, the stigmata 3-4, shortly 

 bi-lobed 5 fruit ovate or subglobose 8-12-sulcated, 

 with the flesh yellow or white. — DC. 



