284 
IOWA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE Vor. XXIX, 1922 
in stigmata 3 biloba vel bifurca papillosa diviso ; ovario glabro vel 
hirsuto, triplacentifero. Pepo saepius magnus, carnosus aut 
fibrosus, saepe corticosus. Semina ovalia, complanata, margine 
tumida cincta, vel rarius immarginata. 
Plantae utriusque orbis indigenae, herbaceae, annuae aut radice 
crassa napiformi perennantes; flagellis multimetralibus, humi ser- 
pentibus et ad nodos radicantibus, nonnunquam etiam scandentibus. 
Floribus magnis aut maximis, luteis, peponum carne dulci et tunc 
eduli aut amara et venenosa. 
The members of this genus are annual or perennial, rough- 
pubescent, almost prickly, trailing, creeping or bushy vines with 
two-to-many branched tendrils. 
Leaf blades, entire or lobed, usually cordate at the base. 
Fowers showy, solitary, monoecious. 
Staminate flowers with campanulate and 5 lobed calyx tube and 
corolla, the lobes recurved at the ends. Stamens three in number, 
inserted on the calyx tube. The filaments distinct, anthers linear, 
cohering, contorted. 
Pistillate flowers with calyx and corolla like those described 
above. Staminodia 3. Pistil 1. Stigma 3-5, each two lobed and 
papillose. Style short and thick. Ovary one-celled, with three 
to five placenta. Ovules numerous. 
KEY TO THE SPECIES OP CUCURBITA 
1. Annual. — Leaves with five lobes. Leaf petiole with stiff 
and prickly leaves. Peduncles of the male and female flowers 
obtusely 5-angled. Peduncle of the fruit 5 to 8-ridged and deeply 
furrowed, enlarged next to the fruit. Calyx tube of the male 
flowers noticeably five-sided -C. Pepd 
2. Annual. — Leaves more rounded than those of C. Pepo , 
but lobed, dark green, velvet, comparatively soft to' the touch. 
.Calyx tube not campanulate. Calyx-lobes large, often leaf -like, 
of dark green color. Peduncles of fruit 5-ridged, prominently 
enlarged next to the fruit C. mo s chat a 
3. Annual. — Leaves orbicular or kidney shaped, commonly 
not lobed or with fine short, rounded lobes. Calyx tube of male 
flowers is campanulate or rather obconical. Corolla tube nearly 
the same diameter at top and bottom. Peduncle of fruit cylindri- 
cal or claviform, soft and spongy at maturity, never ridged — 
C. maxima 
4. Perennial. — Leaves large, cordate-triangular, grayish- 
