82 
XXX. PASSIFLOUEiE. 
[Passiflora. 
diam., green, in 2-4-flowered cymes ; peduncles and pedicels slender, the 
latter jointed below the middle, ebracteate. Sepals 4, oblong, obtuse. Petals 
like the sepals. Filaments of corona slender, shorter than the petals. Sta- 
mens with very slender filaments. Fruit nearly globular, orange-coloured, 
1-1£ in. diam., many-seeded. Seeds fiat ; testa wrinkled . — Tdrapatluea aus- 
tralis, Raoul, Choix, t. 27. 
Northern and Middle Islands : not uncommon in skirts of woods, as far south as 
Akaroa, Banks and Solander, etc. 
Order XXXI. CUCURBITACEiE. 
Climbing or prostrate, weak, straggling herbs, rarely stout and woody, with 
tendrils from the sides of the stem near the petioles. Leaves alternate, ex- 
stipulate, usually palmately veined and lobed. Flowers mostly unisexual. — 
Calyx superior (or adherent at the base) and produced above the ovary, usually 
campanulate, 5-toothed or -lobed. Petals 5, free or united into a 5-lobed 
corolla, often continuous and confluent below with the calyx-tube. Male 
fl. : Stamens 3 or 5, free or more or less combined; anthers often confluent 
into a waved or curved mass. Female fl. : Ovary inferior, usually 1-celled 
when very young, placentae becoming thick and meeting together in the axis 
of the ovary, which they divide into 3-6 cells; styles 3-fid or 3-partite, stig- 
mas entire or lobed ; cells 1- or more ovuled. Fruit succulent or coriaceous, 
indehiscent or bursting irregularly, few- or many-seeded. Seeds usually flat ; 
testa coriaceous or bony ; albumen 0 ; cotyledons large, flattish. 
A large Order, abundant in the tropics, rare in the temperate zone, to which the Cucumber, 
Melon, and whole family of Gourds, Pumpkins, etc., belong. All are bitter and poisonous in 
a wild state. 
1. SICYOS, Linn. 
Prostrate or climbing herbs. — Male flowers racemed. Calyx campanulate, 
5-toothed. Corolla continuous with the calyx, 5-lobed. Anthers 3-5, on the 
summit of a short dilated column ; cells confluent. Female flowers capitate 
on an axillary peduncle, solitary or umbelled. Calyx-tube adnate with the 
ovary ; limb campanulate, free, 5-toothed. Ovary 1-celled, 1-ovuled, with a 
trifid style. Fruit a small coriaceous spinous nut. 
A small, not uncommon, tropical and subtropical genus. 
1. S. angulatus, Linn. ; — Fl. N. Z. i. 72; ii. 329. Stems climbing 
and trailing, often several feet long, glabrous or nearly so. Leaves petioled, 
2-5 in. diam., broadly reniform with a deep sinus, palmately 5-7 -lobed, 
toothed, glabrous or scabrid above and pubescent beneath. Tendrils palmately 
divided at the apex of a long petiole. Male and female inflorescences often 
from the same axil; male peduncle often several in. long. Flowers green, 
in. diam., pedicelled. Corolla-lobes obtuse. Anthers 3, convolute on the cir- 
cumference of a very short, broad, dilated column. Female flower on shorter 
peduncles. Ovary hispid with stiff bristles. Nuts 5-7 together, ovate, 
sessile, compressed, 1-seeded, densely clothed with barbed spines. 
Northern and northern parts of the Middle Islands : on the coast abundant in many 
