140 



WEEDS AJ^D USEFUL PLANTS. 



i 



Obs. Known to every one, — and universally cultivated for the young 

 or green fruit. The young fruit (sometimes called Gherkins) is much 

 used for Pickles. In the Middle Scates, the popular time for planting 

 the seeds is " the first day of May, before sunrise." 

 3. C. Angu'ria, i. Stem prostrate, slender ; leaves palmate-lobed and 

 sinuate, cordate at base ; fruit sub-globose or oval, echinate. 

 Prickly Cucumber. Jerusalem Cucumber. 



Hirsute. Root annual. Stem 3-6 feet long, branching ; tendrils simple. Leaves 3-4 

 inches in length, deeply sinuate-lobed ; petioles 1-2 inches long. Flowers greenish yel- 

 low, on short axillary peduncles. Fruit usually about an inch and a half long, oval, miiri- 

 cate, green. 



Gardens : cultivated. Native of Jamaica, J'Z. July -August. September. 



Obs. Occasionally cultivated for the young fruit, — which is used for 

 Pickles, 



3. CITRUL'LUS, Neck. Water-melon. 



[From Citrus^ an Orange ; the pulp being mostly Orange red.] 



Calyx deeply 5-cleft, — the segments linear-lanceolate. Petals 5, connect- 

 ed at base, adnate to the bottom of the calyx. Stamens 5, inserted on 

 the base of the corolla, triadelphous. Style cylindric, trifid ; stigmas 

 convex, reniform-cordate. Fruit sub-globose, fleshy, the placentae mostly 

 very succulent. Seeds numerous, colored, obovate-oblong, compressed 

 truncate at base and obtuse on the margin. 



1. C. vdlga'ris, Schrad. Stem prostrate, rather slender ; leaves some- 

 what 5-lobed, the lobes obtusely sinuate-pinnatifid, bluish glaucous 

 beneath ; flowers solitary, pedunculate, with a single bract ; fruit glo- 

 bose or oval, very smooth, stellate-maculate. 

 Common Citrullus. Water-melon. 



Fr. Melon d'eau. Germ. Die Wasser Melone. Span. Sandia. 



Plant hairy. Root annual. Stem 8-12 or 15 feet long, angular, somewhat branching , 

 tendrils branched. Leaves 3 - 5 or 6 inches long, ovate in their outline ; petioles'l-'Z inches 

 long, generally erect. Flowers axillary, on hairy peduncles an inch nr more in length. 

 Corolla pale greenish yellow. Fruit 10 - 20 inches long, globose cr oval . with a firm fleshy 

 rind, and, when mature, with a tender sweet watery pulp within, which is usually purple 

 or reddish orange-colored (sometimes nearly white). yS'eeds black or purplish brown. 



Gardens and fields : cultivated. Native of India and Africa. Fl. June -August, F\ 

 August - September . 



Obs. This plant — so well known for its delicious fruit — is extensively 

 cultivated, — but succeeds best in the sandy soils along the Atlantic 

 coast, or on the alluvial banks of our Western waters. There is a 

 nearly allied plant, often seen in gardens, which bears a considerably 

 different fruit — known by the name of " Citron," the firm rind of which 

 is used in making Sweet meats " or Preserves. The flesh is very firm, 

 and the centre does not become red, tender nor watery, like the common 

 Water-melon : yet the whole aspect of the plant, and external appear- 

 ance of the fruit, so closely resemble this s])ecies, that I suppose it may 

 be nothing more than a variety : perhaps the var. Pasteca, Ser. 



