286 



DOMESTIC BOTANY. 



leaves being drawn several times through it, which renders it 

 milky ; it is used for adulterating milk. 



THE TRUMPET FLOWER AND CALABASH 

 ALLIANCE. 



The Calabash Family. 



(Crescentiace^.) 



Small trees or climbing epiphytal shrubs, with simple, 

 winged, serrate, or digitate, alternate leaves. Flowers pro- 

 duced on short footstalks, two or more together on the old 

 stems or branches. Corolla regular or slightly curved, and 

 2-lipped. Stamens didynamous, with a rudiment of a fifth. 

 Fruit large, woody, globose, or more or less elongated and 

 cylindrical (club gourd-like), containing numerous kernel- 

 like seeds embedded in pulp. 



About 40 species constitute this family. They are widely 

 distributed throughout the tropics, but the greater number 

 are found in Madagascar and Mauritius. 



Calabash {Crescentia cujete). A well-known tree, wild 

 and cultivated throughout the West Indies and tropical 

 America. It is a rude branching tree, attaining the height 

 of 20 to 30 feet, with simple leaves, or often three together 

 on a broad leafstalk. This and C. cucurhitina are most 

 important for the purposes to which the shells of their fruit 

 are applied ; the first has globose fruit varying in size from a 

 few to 18 inches in diameter ; that of the latter being more 

 oval and oblong, and also of various sizes. Domestic utensils, 

 such as cups, water-bottles, spoons, and the like, are made 

 from them, which are in as common use in their respective 

 countries as crockery-ware is in this country. The pulp in 

 which the seed lies is used by negroes as a medicine. 



Kigelia pinnata. A tree, native of Eastern Africa, extend- 

 ing from Egypt to Natal. It has winged leaves and somewhat 

 spindle-shaped gourd-like fruit, from 18 inches to 2 feet in 

 length, and from 5 to 8 inches in girth. It has no remarkable 



