GOURDS AND CUCURBITS 



457 



By this plan good strong plants are obtained, the only difference 

 being that, when the plants are raised under glass, they are got into a 

 fruiting stage somewhat earlier than when sown out of doors. 



Two or three Cucurbits are hardy or partially so. These are capital 

 plants to decorate low trellis -work cr to adorn the outside of summer- 

 houses, or even potting-sheds and other buildings, which, though indis- 

 pensable in the garden, are not always so ornamental as they could be 

 made with a little trouble. 



Bnjonopsis laciniosa is a plant very much resembling in appearance 

 our only British Cucurbit, the white Bryony {Bryonia dioica), and, 

 although a native of Ceylon, grows and fruits most profusely during the 

 summer months. 



In such a position as I have indicated it makes a very attractive screen, 

 its red and silver-marked fruits being very ornamental. As a companion 

 plant, Gyclanthera pedata makes by contrast a good variety : this small- 

 growing Mexican Cucurbit has bright green fruits and grows well in any 

 ordinary soil. Both these plants must be raised during April under 

 glass, hardened off, and finally planted out early in June. For the same 

 purpose and situation, the Californian Bigroot, Megarrhiza californica, is 

 the mcst useful and hardy Cucurbit I know. It has a perennial root, and 

 so one gets the plant year by year without the trouble of annually sowing 

 seed. Its foliage is very distinct and effective, and during a fairly good 

 summer it produces a crop of burr-like fruits that resemble the spiny 

 fruits of the Spanish Chestnut more than a Cucurbitaceous plant. 



Goubds and Cucurbits as Stove and Greenhouse Climbers. 



Outside the large glass-houses of the Botanic Gardens it is rather 

 unusual to see Gourds used for stove and conservatory decoration, yet I 

 venture to suggest that for brilliant effect and attractiveness few plants 

 can equal many of the tropical Cucurbits and Gourds. Their weird and 

 fantastic shapes, with the added beauty of colour, serve to give either a 

 conservatory or stove-house an interest otherwise wanting in the summer 

 if only filled with the orthodox foliage and flowering plants. 



The culture of these plants under glass in no way differs from that 

 required for any ordinary quick-growing tender climber. Careful thinning 

 and tying of the shoots, pollinating the pistillate flowers as they open 

 (for nearly all the Cucurbits are moncecious or dicecious), and keeping the 

 foliage free from the ordinary insect pests of the greenhouse, comprises 

 the attention needed. 



Selection of Plants for Indoor Cultivation. 



One of the most effective Gourds for this purpose is the Indian Snake 

 Gourd, Trichosanthes Anguina. The flowers are pure white and of a 

 beauty that is rare ; unfortunately the corolla, very soon after fully open- 

 ing, begins to curl up, so that one does not often see the fully expanded 

 flower, which must be seen to be appreciated. Its delicate fringed petals, 

 and its exquisite shape and delicious odour, constitute a flower that, were 

 it not so fleeting, would be indeed a floral gem of the first water. The 

 fruit is most attractive. In its young state it is bright green, irregularly 



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