( ~'itrvlhtx .] 
LVIT. CUCITRBITACEiE. 
697 
one 1 -celled, two 2-celled, cells lineal 1 , flexuous, bordering the broad connective 
which is not produced beyond the cells ; rudiment of ovary gland-like. Female 
flowers : Staminodes ligulate or setaceous ; ovary ovoid or globose ; style short, 
stigma 3-lobed ; ovules numerous on 3 placentas ; fruit globose, usually hard, 
smooth ; seeds many, oblong, compressed, smooth. — Annuals, rarely perennials, 
herbs. Foetid or musky, rarely scandent. Leaves deeply lobed ; lobes narrow. 
Tendrils usually 2 or 3-fid. Flowers shortly peduncled, yellow. Fruit large. 
1. C. vulgaris (common), Schrait. Water or Pie-melon. Annual. Stem 
glabrous or woolly. Leaves triangular-ovate in outline, 3 to 7-lobed, glabrous or 
slightly hairy. Petals obovate, about 3 lines long, light yellow. Fruit variable 
in size and form. 
Hab.: Cultivated in most warm countries; met with as a stray from cultivation in many 
parts of Queensland. 
8. -ECBALLIUM, A. Rich. 
(From ekbalUin , to cast out ; seed ejected from the fruit.) 
Flowers monoecious. Male racemose. Calyx-tube short, campanulate, the 
limb 5 -fid. Corolla subrotund or broadly campanulate, deeply 5 -lobed, with 
oblong acute segments. Stamens 3 ; filaments short, free ; anthers broad, one 
1 -celled, the others 2-celled, the cells flexuose, connective marginal. Female 
flowers solitary, pedunculate. Calyx above the ovary and corolla of the males. 
Stamens 3, imperfect. Ovary oblong, hispid, placentas 3 ; style short, dilated in 
three 2-furcate and recurved-subulate stigmatose branches. Fruit oblong, hispid- 
echinate, very juicy, when mature separating from top of articulate peduncle and 
elastically projecting seeds with juice from basal aperture. Seeds numerous, 
oblong, compressed, short or narrowly marginate, crowned at apex with short 
duplex aril of hilum and micropyle. 
1. E. Elaterium (purging), A. Rich. The Squirting Cucumber. A 
perennial or annual herb, creeping, fleshy, everywhere hispid-pilose. Leaves 
alternate, long-petiolate, cordate, obtuse, without tendrils. Flowers yellow, 
lateral, the female sometimes in the same axil with the male raceme, but usually 
in separate ones. — Bent, and Trim. Med. PI. pi. 115. 
Hab.: A Mediterranean plant, has become naturalised along the banks of the Condamine, E. 
M. Shelton. 
9. -CUCURBITA, Linn. 
(Derived from Cucumis.) 
Monoecious. Flowers all solitary. Male : Calyx-tube campanulate, lobes 
simple or foliaceous. Corolla campanulate, 5-lobed to or below the middle ; 
lobes recurved at_the apex. Filaments 3, free, inserted at the base of the calyx ; 
anthers , connate, one 1-celled, two 2-celled, cells elongate, conduplicate. 
Rudiment of ovary none. Female flower: Staminodes 3. Ovary oblong; style 
short, stigmas 3, 2-lobed ; ovules numerous, on 3 placentas. Fruit fleshy, seeds 
many, ovate or oblong, flattened, margined or not. — Annuals or perennial-rooted 
tropical herbs ; branches usually prostrate and rooting. Leaves lobed, cordate at 
the base. Tendrils 2 to multifid. Flowers large yellow. — Hooker in Oliver FI. 
Trop. Africa ii. 555. 
1. C. Pepo (Greek name for gourd or melon), DC. Annual. Stem creep- 
ing, rarely erect, angular and grooved. Leaves 5-lobed, with a deep basal sinus, 
lobes acute, often lobulate ; petioles and nerves beneath prickly. Peduncles 
obtusely 5-angled, Calyx of male flower campanulate, constricted beneath the 
