CUCURBITA CEAE 
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Cucurbitaceae. Dicotyledons (Sympet. Campanulatae). 87 genera with 
about 650 sp. found in most parts of the world, but wanting in the 
colder regions and most abundant in the tropics. They are chiefly 
climbing annual herbs with very rapid growth and great abundance 
of sap in their stems and other tissues. They climb by tendrils, about 
whose morphological nature there has been much discussion ; for they 
have been considered by various authors as “roots, stems, leaves, stip- 
ules, shoots, flower-stalks or organs sui generis.” According to Muller 
(Nat. Pfl.) the tendrils of Cucurbita Pepo , with their frequent abnor- 
malities, give a proof of their true nature. Every variety is found, 
from simple threads to long leafy tendrils, in which the leaves show 
all transitions to tendrils. Muller, therefore, considers the twining 
portion of the tendril to be a metamorphosed leaf, the lower stiff 
portion a stem. The tendrils of C. are very sensitive and show very 
well all the phenomena of tendril-climbing. 
The flrs. are diclinous, rarely $ , in infls. of various types (see 
Nat. Pfl., or Eichler, Bliithendiagr .). 
The calyx and corolla are typically 5-merous, regular, with cohesion 
in both whorls. The sta. are typically 5, but great variety is intro- 
duced into the androeceum by cohesions &c. ; it is almost always 
zygomorphic. In Fevillea we find 5 sta. with bilocular anthers, the 
simplest type ; it is noteworthy that the usual 4-locular anther never 
occurs in C., and no trace of the missing loculus is to be found in 
either lobe of the anther of Fevillea. In the rest of the order the 
androeceum is more complex. In Thladiantha two pairs of sta. stand 
apart from the fifth sta. In Sicydium these pairs show union of their 
members at the base, and in others of the order the union is more 
complete, until, as in Bryonia &c., the androeceum apparently has 
only 3 sta., of which 2 have 4-locular anthers. The more the sta. 
depart from the simple type the more curved do the loculi of the 
anthers become, till in Cucurbita &c. the pollen-sacs are twisted in a 
most extraordinary manner (cf. Columellia). In Cyclanthera the sta. 
are all united into a column with two ring-shaped pollen chambers 
running round the top (cf. the flowers of Cyclanthus). 
The ovary is inferior, 1 — io-loc., with 1 — 00 anatropous ovules in 
each loc. ; the most common type is, however, a 3-loc. ovary with 
axile placentae projecting deep into the cavity. Stigmas as many as 
cpls., usually forked. 
Fruit nearly always fleshy, of the type exhibited in the melon or 
cucumber — a berry-like fruit, sometimes called a pepo. The seeds 
are exalbuminous. In Zanonia, Ecballium, Cyclanthera, &c. (q. v.), 
the mode of seed-dispersal is interesting. 
The relationships of this order have been much disputed. Benth.- 
Hooker place it near Passifloraceae, Baillon near Loasaceae and 
Begoniaceae. It is now pretty generally accepted however that 
it comes near to the Campanulaceae, as here placed. 
W. 
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