THE GOURD FAMILY 
[ORDER XXXIII. CUCURBITACE./E] 
HE plants belonging to this order are herbs characterised by their trailing or climbing habit. 
They have long, juicy stems, alternate, rough, usually lobed leaves, and climb by means of 
tendrils opposite each leaf. The parts of the flowers are in fives, and both stamens and carpels 
are never present in the same flower (dioecious). 
The Gourd Family is a very important one. It is found chiefly in the tropics, especially in 
Africa, and is represented in Britain by one species only. Many foreign species are largely culti- 
vated for the use of their fruits, such as the Cucumber (Cucumis sativus), Melon (Cucumis melo), 
Water Melon (Cucumis citrullus), Vegetable Marrow (Cucurbita ovitera), Gourds, and Pumpkins. 
Taken as a whole, however, the members of this tribe are highly poisonous, the exception being 
when the fruits are edible. Some are violent drugs, Colocynth (Citrullus Colocynthis) and the 
Squirting Cucumber (Momordica Elaterium) proving useful in medicine. Others are most interest- 
ing because of the shape of their fruits. The Bottle Gourd (Cucurbita lagenaria) is shaped as a 
flask, and when the pulpy inside is removed is used as a water-bottle. The inside, however, 
is highly poisonous, and the hard rind has to be carefully cleansed before it can be so used. 
The Snake Cucumber (Momordica cylindrica) has a cucumber-shaped fruit, many feet long, which 
is curled and twisted like a snake. 
The Passion flowers (belonging to the order Passifloracese) and the Cactuses (belonging to the 
order Cactaceae) are in near affinity to the Gourd Family. Neither of these orders has any native 
representative in the British Isles, but both are largely cultivated in our greenhouses. 
WHITE BRYONY. (BRYONIA, LINN.) — Flowers whitish, with green veins, in small clusters, 
never having both stamens and carpels in the same flower, sometimes with the flowers without 
carpels (male) on one plant and those without stamens (female) on another (dioecious), and some- 
times with both male and female flowers on the same plant (monoecious). Sepals 5, united into a 
bell-shaped tube combined with the seedcase, and separating into 5 teeth ; petals 5, united at the 
base ; stamens 5 (or o when the flower has carpels), united into 3 bundles, the filaments short and 
thick, more or less united, the anthers curved and w r avy ; carpels 3 (or o w r hen the flower has 
stamens), with 3 thick, short styles and 3 irregularly cut, velvety stigmas. Fruit a round or oval 
juicy berry, black or red, usually 1 -celled w’hen ripe, containing few seeds, decaying to free the 
seeds (indehiscent). Slender, climbing herbs, with alternate leaves lobed towards the base into 5 
segments (palmatifid), and with a tendril, usually not branched, opposite each leaf 
