OunER VIII. 
MONCECIA MONADELPHIA. 
809 
13550 Branches compressetl, Lvs. imbricated in 4 rows lane, acute appressed warted under end. Cones 4-cornered 
13551 Branches round. Leaves imbricated in 4 rows oblong appressed smooth, Cones 4-cornered roundish 
13552 Fruit rounded oblong incurved, Leaves cordate repand mucronate toothletted 
13553 Fruit ovate acute, Leaves roundish cordate angular repand 
13554 Fruit oblong acute. Leaves 5-lobed palmated entire 
13555 Fruit roundish ovate narrowed at each end angul. warted, Bract cordate toothed above midd. of pedunc. 
13556 Fruit oblong acuminate angular warted, Bract cordate entire below the middle of the peduncle 
13557 Fruit elliptical angular warted beaked. Beak deciduous forming a lid 
13558 Fruit cylindrical oblong. Furrows chain-like, Bract cordate entire at the base of the peduncle 
13559 Fruit elliptical hispid, Leaves cord-ite hispid blunt toothed, Stem without tendrils 
13560 Leaves cordate angular 5-lobed toothletted downy. Fruit obovate striped with lines lengthwise 
13561 Leaves cordate roundish obtuse downy toothletted with 2 glands at base beneath. Fruit woody clavate 
13.562 Leaves subcordate about 3-lobed cuspidate finely toothletted rough, Fruit globose smooth 
13563 Leaves cordate obtuse about 5-lobed toothletted. Fruit roundish or oblong smooth 
13564 Leaves cordate deeply 5-lobed : the middle lobe narrowed at base. Fruit roundish elliptical warted 
13565 Leaves cordate deeply 5-lobed : middle lobe narrowed at base toothletted, Fruit clav. ellipt. somew. warted 
13566 Leaves cordate obtuse about 5-lobed toothletted. Fruit depressed urabonate tumid at edge 
13567 Leaves 5-lobed, Lobes sinuate pinnatifid blunt. Fruit elliptical smooth 
13568 Leaves rnultifid. Fruit globose smooth 
13569 Leaves cordate 5-lobed toothletted blunt. Fruit globose spiny muricated 
13570 Leaves palmate sinuated. Fruit round echinate 
13571 Fruit oval echinate, Leaves palmate sinuated. Stem angular 
is recommended much in purging clysters ; and the pulp of the fruit is often employed in resolutive poultices : 
it is bitter and purgative, and may be used instead of Coloquintida. 
C. pepo, Patisson, Fr., has hispid branchy tendril stems, which in good soil will extend forty or fifty 
feet in a season, and cover an eighth part of an acre. The fruit is oblong, ovate, varying in form and 
size ; some not less than four feet in circumference. In some parts of England the pompion (corruptly 
pumpkin) is sometimes planted by cottagers on dunghills, and suffered to trail at length over the grass of an 
orchard. When the fruit is ripe, they cut a hole on one side, and having taken out the seeds, fill the void 
space with sliced apples, adding a little sugar and spice, and then, having baked the whole, eat it with butter, 
under the name of pumpkin pie. On the continent the fruit, both unripe and ripe, is used in soups, stews, and 
fried in oil or butter. The tender tops of the shoots boiled as greens are much more delicate than the fruit. 
C. aurantia is more tender than the common pompion. The fruit is small, round, of a bright yellow when 
ripe, and may be used like those of the other species. C. verrucosa has a small round fi-uit, with a woody rind. 
In America it is gathered when half grown, and boiled to eat as a substitute for greens ; but for this purpose 
this and most of the species are inferior to the succade Gourd. 
C. melopepo, Potiron, Fr., Pfebin Kurbiss, Ger., and Popone, Ital., has a large fruit, reddish yellow or 
yellowish-white within and without, roundish, but often flatted at top and bottom; torulose, and sometimes 
warted. It is cultivated in America as a culinary vegetable. C. Citrullus, Pasteque, Fr., Wassermelone, 
Ger., and Cocomero, Ital., is readily distinguished from all the other species by its deeply cut leaves. The fruit 
is roundish, large, smooth, often a foot and a half in length, with a white icy flesh, streaked with dark red 
and black seeds. It is much cultivated in the warm countries of Europe, and also in Asia, Africa, and 
America, for its cooling quality. It serves the Egyptians for meat, drink, and physic. It is eaten in abund- 
ance during the season, which is from the beginning of May until the overflowing of the Nile ; that is, to the 
end of July or beginning of August. It is the only medicine the common people use in ardent fevers. For 
this purpose they have a variety that is softer and more juicy than the common sort : when this is very ripe, 
or almost putrid, they collect the juice, and mix it with rose-water and a little sugar. This fruit should be 
eaten by Europeans with great caution ; when taken in the heat of the day, whilst the body is warm, colics 
and other bad consequences often ensue, and it is well known that persons are much troubled with worms at 
the time this fruit is in season. 
The Succade Gourd, a variety of C. ovifera, has an elliptic oblong pale-yellow fruit, by far the best for culinary 
purposes of any species of the genus. "When very young, it is good fried with butter; when about half grown, 
it is excellent either boiled as a substitute for greens, or stewed in slices with rich sauce ; when full grown, it 
is used for pies. Sabine, who has cultivated most species of Cucurbita, considers the vegetable marrow without 
a rival. {Hort. Trans, vol. ii. 255.) 
All the species may be raised on a hot-bed in April, and transferred to the open garden at the end of May, 
under a warm aspect and in a rich soil ; or they may be sown in a trench tilled with hot dung, where they are 
finally to remain. Their after culture is of the easiest description. 
It is not very generally known, that the tender tops of all the species of the Cucurbita and Cucumis families, 
whose fruit may be eaten, when boiled form a very tender substitute for greens. 
2022. Cucumis. A word with the same derivation as the last. C. C'olocynthis has fruit the size and color of 
orange ; the pulp light, spungy, and white, and most intolerably bitter. When ripe, it is peeled and dried in a 
stove, and in this state it is imported from the Mediterranean under the name of coloquintida. Medicinally, it 
and Miscellaneous Particulars. 
