244 Keport of the Horticulturist of the 
foliacious, or lobed; fruit-bearing peduncle often woody, polyhedral, 
sulcate, distinctly expanded at its union with the fruit. 
Stem trailing, rarely abbreviated, sub-terete, or obscurely pentagonal, 
often black spotted at the nodes : leaves intensely green, frequently with 
white angular spots, roundish reniform, margin crenulate-denticulate ; 
calyx intensely green; corolla, pale yellow; fruit usually cylindrical, 
blackish green or golden yellow ; when mature often covered with a thin 
whitish bloom ; pulp scarcely fibrous, placentse readily deliquescent'; seeds 
dirty white, distinctly margined. 
Conspectus of the Species. 
I. Plants annual. 
A. Leaves harsh ; calyx tube campanulate, with fleshy or corky 
segments. 
1. Lobes of leaves rounded, scarcely any sinuses between, peduncles 
round. C. maxima. 
2. Lobes of leaves acute, sinuses between them often deep, peduncles 
obtusely pentagonal. C. Pepo. 
B. Leaves soft, calyx tube very short, or scarcely any, segments flat, 
usually dilated, foliaceous at apex. C. moschata. 
From the above conspectus any variety may be referred to its proper 
species. But it is often desirable to refer a variety to its species from 
the fruit alone. This may be done quite readily with our cultivated 
varieties if the stem remains attached, by observing the following 
characters : 
1. Fruit stem not grooved longitudinally. G. maxima. 
2. Fruit stem distinctly grooved longitudinally. 
*A. Stem little expanded at its union with the fruit. G. Pepo. 
B. Stem strongly expanded at its union with the fruit. G. 
moschata. 
A synopsis of the classification here adopted is as follows: 
1. Fruit stem not grooved longitudinally. — Gucurbita maxima. 
a. Fruits distinctly ringedf about the blossom end; 
the " turban " squashes, " giraumons " of the 
French. Nos. 1-5 incl. 
* In a few cases it may be difficult to decide whether the fruit stem is much 
or little expanded at its union with the fruit, as the expansion is about inter- 
mediate. In such cases, a glance at the male flowers will answer the ques- 
tion at once. If the calyx tube is constricted a little just beneath the inser- 
tion of the corolla, it is C. Pepo ; but if the calyx lobes extend almost or 
quite to the peduncle, and are distinctly green in color, it is C. moschata . 
t The word " ringed " is here used to express the peculiar formation at the 
blossom end of this class of squashes, whereby the fruit appears as if it were 
growing about a smaller sample of a different form. 
