CUCURBITAC 



319 



at the middle into many spreading branches; leaflets oblong- 

 oblanceolate, very acute, mucronate; racemes 6 to 10 in. long, on long 

 peduncles; bracts setaceous, much shorter than the calyx; flowers 

 white, yellow, or sometimes rose-color; calyx sparingly pubescent, 

 the upper lip scarious, deeply cleft, the lower long, toothed. 



Hillsides and banks of gullies: Marin Co.; Yaca and Napa Valleys; 

 eastern San Joaquin Co. and southward to Southern California. 

 Apr.-May. Flowers in this and the next 6 to 8 lines long. 



17. L. microcarpus Sims. Simple or branched above, 1 to 1£ ft. 

 high, somewhat succulent, villous throughout; leaves rather crowded; 

 leaflets usually 9, cuneate-oblong, smooth above, varying at apex 

 from acutish to emarginate, 1 to 2 in. long; bracts subulate-setaceous, 

 equaling the calyx or shorter; flowers short-pediceled, purplish or 

 flesh-pink; calyx densely hirsute, upper lip very short, subscarious, 

 emarginate or cleft; lower obscurely 2 to 3-toothed; keel slightly 

 ciliate; pod villous, 8 lines long. 



Abundant on the plains of the Sacramento and San Joaquin; 

 apparently also at Alameda. Apr.-May. 



65. CUCURBITACE/E. Gourd Family. 



Herbs, mostly tendril-bearing and succulent, with simple leaves. 

 Flowers unisexual, the petals united and blended with the calyx. 

 Calyx-tube in the pistillate flower adherent to the 1 to 6-celled ovary; 

 stigmas 2 or 3; placentje parietal or projecting from the axis. Stam- 

 inate flower with 3 stamens, 2 of these with 2-celled anthers, the 

 third one with a 1-celled anther. Fruit gourd-like, or dry and 

 dehiscent. Seeds large, anatropous, without endosperm. 



An order of characteristic aspect, well known on account of the 

 melon, pumpkin, cucumber and other esculent fruits of cultivation. 

 The genus Cucurbita may be recognized by its prostrate scabrous 

 vine-like stems, large yellow solitary flowers, distinct filaments and 

 contorted confluent anthers. Two perennial species occur on the 

 plains of the lower San Joaquin fOakdale and southward). C. 

 foetidissima HBK., Calabazilla, has triangular-cordate or sub- 

 cordate leaves, more or less denticulate, 4 to 6 in. long; calyx-tube i 

 in. long. C. palmata Wats., Mock Orange, has palmatelv 5-cleft 

 leaves and calyx-tube about 1 in. long. 



1. ECHINOCYSTIS T. & G. Big Root. 

 Trailing or climbing herbs with branched tendrils and thin leaves. 

 Flowers small, greenish or white, monoecious, the staminate in axil- 

 lary racemes or panicles, the pistillate pedicellate and solitary in the 

 same axils. Calyx-teeth very small or obsolete. Corolla rotate or 

 campanulate with 5 to 7 lobes or lanceolate segments. Staminate 

 flowers with the short filaments united and the anthers distinct or 

 coherent. Pistillate flowers with capillary staminodia or none; 

 ovary globose or oblong, 2 to 4-celled, with 1 to 4 ovules in each cell; 

 style very short; stigmas 2 to 3-parted or lobed. Fruit prickly, some- 



