Am\uJg0uUst',  Fil%m'  }  Notes  on  the  Dasheen  and  Chayote.  505 
The  stigmas  are  closely  set  together  forming  a  small  head.  The 
ovary  is  inferior.  The  fruit  is  a  greenish  or  ivory  white,  fleshy, 
pear  shaped  or  globose,  one  seeded  pepo  (Fig.  6) .  Its  surface  is  more 
or  less  corrugated  and  marked  by  the  presence  of  spines  around  both 
ends.  The  embryo  protrudes  from  the  center  of  the  distal  end 
before  the  fruit  is  mature.  The  seed  is  exalbuminous  and  consists 
of  a  seed  coat  firmly  adherent  to  the  endocarp  and  enclosing  two 
cotyledons,  a  plumule  and  a  radicle.   The  cotyledons  attain  a  length 
Fig.  7.  Fruit  of  Chctyota  edulis  Jacq.,  cut  lengthwise  with  embryo  and 
portion  of  pericarp  removed.  The  dotted  area  (en)  indicates  the  surface 
of  the  endocarp  which  is  not  adherent  to  the  seed  coat.  Note  seed  coat  O) 
and  spine  (/>).    X  13/V 
of  from  2  to  2T/2  inches,  averaging  one  half  the  length  of  the  fruit. 
The  average  weight  of  the  fruit  is  about  8  ounces  (Fig.  8). 
According  to  a  circular  issued  by  the  United  States  Department 
of  Agriculture,  the  chayote  may  be  grown  successfully  on  any  well- 
drained,  cultivated  land  in  sections  of  the  Southern  States  where 
the  ground  does  not  freeze, — anywhere  south  of  a  line  drawn  from 
Charleston,  S.  C,  to  Baton  Rouge,  La., — and  along  the  Gulf  coast 
