7 
\ 
/ 
■Megarrhiza. 
GUCUBBITAGiLE. 
(SW 
‘ 7 W m 
elongated and climbing, from large fusiform perennial roots; leaves cordate, pal- 
mately 5-?-lobed or angled; tendrils 2-5-cleft; flowers small, white, flowering 
in early spring. — Watson, Proc, Am. Acad. xi. 138. 
A genus confined to the Pacific Coast, the species not well known, nearly allied to the Ediino- 
cystis of the Atlantic States, to which it has been referred, but from which it is separated by its 
thick perennial roots, its large turgid immarginate seeds, and its thick fleshy cotyledons, which 
remain under ground m germination. The fruit in some secies appears to be wholly indnhiseent. ' 
1. M. Californica, Torr. Nearly glabrous, /ith short scattered curved hairs : 
stem 20 to 30 feet long : leaves 2 to 6 inches b/ad, with a deep closed sinus, more 
or less deeply 5-7-lobed, but rarely to the inid/le ; *bes broad-triangular, abruptly 
acute, mucronate, the sinuses obtuse: sterile fW^ers/5 to 20) in slender racemes 3 to 
5 inches long, somewhat pubescent, on slend/r Micels a line or two long; corolla 
3 or 4 lines broad : fertile flowers 5 or 6 lines/road, without abortive stamens: 
ovary globose, densely echinate, 2-(rarely 3*-4)-celled, the cells 1-2-ovuled; lower 
ovule ascending, the upper horizontal, attached ho the outer side of the cell: fruit 
globose oi* ovoid, 2 inches long, densely covered with stout almost pungent spines 
(2 to 1 inch long), 1-4-seeded: seed\boWi 10 lines long, 6 in diameter, sur¬ 
rounded by a shallow groove or darker line,|tfh/hilum at the narrow base. —Pacif. 
E. Eep. vi. 74. Echinocystis fabacea i 
and xvi. 188. . 
Near the coast from San Diego „„ ^ 
Stanislaus {Bigelow) has the ripe fruit • 
( Bigelow ) may also belong here, though^ 
lobes, and the 4-eelled fruit with 4 c " 
Sci. Nat. 4 i 
Keyes. A specimen from Knight’s Ferry on the 
strongly armed. Specimens from Cocomungo 
the leaves more deeply divided with narrower 
I each cell. 
2. M. Mar ah, Watson, 1. 0. Sfcafil 
long : leaves cordate or reniform, 3 
sterile flowers a half to an inch 
racemes, 4 to 12 inches long 
with abortiv 
or nearly smooth : stems 10 to 30 feet 
0 6 inches broad, lobed nearly as in the last: 
road, in simple or panicled loosely flowered 
bis -slender, 2 to 6 lines long: fertile flowers 
with abortive stamens : ovary oblbngVate, more or less covered with soft spines, 
2- 3-celled; ovules 1 to/4 oJjmiVin\aeh cell, ascending or horizontal, attached 
to the outer side of the Jell /&*uiK|^ate-oblong, 4 inches long, somewhat attenuate 
at each end more or lets jnuhcatelNAl over with weak spines : seeds horizontally 
imposed, flattish, suborbicular br irfWlarly elliptical, an inch in diameter, about 
halt as thick, with an obM^fe m^nal furrow and prominent lateral hilum.— 
Marah mumcatus, Kedlogg\PrOCv Calif. Acad. i. 38. 
Common around and near SaiWanciW Bay. Catalina Island {Baker), but sterile flowers only. 
3. M. Oregona, Torr. Mhchr^embling the last: fertile flowers without abor- 
tive stamens: young, fruit similar m shape, sparingly muricate with soft spines, 
3- 4-celled, the cells imbricated above each other, 1-seeded : mature fruit (so far as 
known) an inch or two long, unarmed, with very thin walls : seeds as in the last * 
or somewhat smaller (8 to 11 lines broad), attached to the outer side of the cell. — 
Pacif. P. Eep. vi. 74. 
Common m Washington Territory and said to range from Puget Sound to Klamath Lake. 
4. M. muricata, Watson, 1. c. Nearly glabrous or somewhat scabrous, often 
more or less glaucous : stems 6 to 8 feet long: leaves 2 to 4 inches broad, orbicular- 
cordate with a nearly closed sinus or broadly reniform, deeply 5-lobed, the divisions 
all broader above and sharply sinuate-toothed or -lobed : sterile racemes slender, often 
very few-flowered: fertile flowers 3 to 4 lines broad, without abortive stamens, on 
slender pedicels an inch or two long: ovary smooth or sparingly muricate, oblong 
acute at each end : fruit nearly globose, an inch in diameter, naked or with a few 
short weak spines near the base, 2-celled, 2-seeded : seed nearly globose, half an 
inch m diameter, ascending, attached to the outer side of the cell near the base, the 
margin smooth. — Echinocystis muricata , Kellogg, PrOc. Calif. Acad. i. 57. 
W- /d 
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