Banks of rivers, Canada (Michaux) and New York! to Alabama! and
Arkansas! June-Sept.—Peduncles of the sterile flowers at length 4-8
mches long; that of the (very much smaller) fertile flowers 1-2 inches long.
Fruit clustered. °
2. Oreganus : slightly pubescent; leaves roundish-cordate, 7-9-angled
or somewhat lobed, with as many primary veins arising from the apex of the
petiole, denticulate, the angles or lobes acuminate; tendrils 3-cleft; sterile
flowers loosely racemose on a very long peduncle, or partly on slender pedicels
clustered in the axils; petals ovate-lanceolate; style very short.__S.
angulatus, Hook.! fl. Bor.-Am. 1. p. 220, (partly.)
On the Oregon from near its mouth to Kettle Falls, Dr. Scouler ! Douglas,
M.r. Tolmie !—-We have not seen the fruit, and our specimens furnish only
one or two fertile flowers, which are on simple pedicels in the axils (although
others are probably clustered), and in these .the ovary is scarcely pubescent
and not hispid.
4. ECHINOCYSTIS.
Flowers monoecious. Calyx flattish, in the fertile flowers slightly contracted
above the ovary ; the segments 6, filiform-subulate, shorter than the
corolla. Petals 6, lanceolate, united at the base into a rotate-campanulate
corolla. S t er il e F l . Stamens 3, diadelphous, arising from the base of
the calyx : filaments short: anthers sigmoid, connate. F e r t il e F l . Abortive
filaments 3, very small, distinct. Style very short: stigmas 2, large,
broadly obcordate, connivent. Fruit somewhat globose, inflated, setose-
echinate, membranaceous, at first watery (bursting elastically at the summit
?), at length dry, 2-celled, 4-seeded ; the cells spuriously 2-celled at the
base; the 2 carpels at length separable, reticulate-fibrous. Seeds large,
not arillate, erect from near the base of each spurious cell, obovate-oblong,
flat, slightly 2-toothed at the base, the margins obtuse.—An annual climbing
herb, with palmately 5-lobed leaves, and 3-cleft tendrils. Flowers
small, greenish-white; the sterile in long compound racemes; the fertile
ones from the same axils, solitary or clustered on a short peduncle.
E. lobata— Sicjos lobata, Michx.! fl. 2. p. 217. Momordica echinata,
Muhl.! in Willd. spec. 4. p. 605; Pursh, A. 2. p. 444 ; DC. vrodr. 3. n
312 ; Hook. fl. Bor.-Am. 1. p. 220.
Rich soil along streams, Canada ! (from the Saskatchawan) to New York!
Pennsylvania ! and Missouri. July-Sept.—A nearly glabrous vine, climbing
over small shrubs. Leaves membranaceous, mucronately denticulate ;
the lobes triangular, acuminate-mucronate. Sterile racemes often a foot
long. Mature fruit nearly 2 inches in length, armed with weak prickles.
Seeds three-fourths of an inch long, nearly smooth and even.—A very distinct
genus, more nearly allied to Sicyos than to Momordica.
5. MOMORDICA. L in n .; Juss. gen. p. 395 ; Gcertn. fr . t. 88.
Flowers monoecious or sometimes dioecious. Calyx 5-cleft; the tube very
short. Petals 5, united at the base. S t er il e F l . Stamens 5, triadel-
phous: anthers connate. F er til e F l . Style 3-cleft. Pepo fleshy,
usually muricate and bursting elastically when mature. Seeds enveloped
in a fleshy arillus.—Pedicels solitary, 1-flowered, filiform, furnished with a
cordate bracteole.
1. M. Charantia (Linn.): stems more or less hairy or villous; leaves
5-7-lobed, sinuate-toothed, when young more or less villous or hairy on the
under side particularly on the veins; peduncles slender, with a reniform
bracteole, which in the sterile flowers is situated about the middle, and in
the fertile near the base; segments of the calyx oblong; ovary slender;
fruit oblong or ovate, tapering to both ends, more or less tuberculate ; seeds
with a thick notched margin and a red arillus.—Linn. spec. 2. p. 1009;
Bot. mag. t. 2455 ; Scringe, in DC. 1. c .; W. & Am. ! prodr. Ind. Or. 1.
p. 348. .
Near Tampa Bay, Florida, Dr. Burrows ! Dr. Leavenworth!—“ Indigenous,”
according to Dr. Leavenworth ; but we think this somewhat
doubtful.
6. CUCUMIS. Linn. ; Gcertn.fr. t. 88 ; Lam. ill. t. 795.
Flowers monoecious or perfect. Calyx tubular-campanulate; the segments
subulate, scarcely the length of the tube. Petals (yellow) scarcely combined
or coherent with the calyx. S t er il e F l. Stamens 5, triadelphous. F e r t
il e F l. Style short: stigmas 3 (occasionally 4), thick, 2-parted. Pepo
fleshy, indehiscent. Seeds ovate, compressed, not margined, acute at the
hilum.—Cucumber.
1. C. ? perennis (James): perennial; stems procumbent; leaves triangular
cordate, thick, scabrous, the margin sinuate and undulate; tendrils 3-
cleft; lobes of the calyx subulate ; fruit globose, smooth, nearly sessile;
seeds ovate (ohovate ?), the margin acute.—E. James, in Long's exped. 2.
P-3 45; Torr. in ann. lyc. New York, 2. p. 242. Cucurbita fmtidissima,
H. B. K. nov. gen. 2. p. 123 ?
On the arid and sandy wastes along the base of the Rocky Mountains,
from the confluence of the Boiling-spring Fork to the sources of the Red
River, Dr. James. July-Sept.—Shot fusiform, 4-5 inches in diameter, descending
perpendicularly into the earth to the depth of 4-6 feet. Flowers
nearly as large as in Cucurbita Pepo. Fruit as large as an orange. The
plant emits a fetid odor. James.—Since Dr. James’s account, no farther
information has been received respecting this interesting plant; but specimens
of perhaps the same species occur in Drummond’s Texan collection,
without flowers or fruit. It is not cultivated, as Seringe states, but truly indigenous.
7. LAGENARIA. Seringe, diss. in mem. soc. Genev., fy-in DC. prodr. l.c.
Flowers monoecious. Calyx campanulate; the segments subulate or
rather broad, shorter than the tube. Petals (white) obovate, inserted within
the margin of the calyx. S t er il e F l . Stamens 5, triadelphous : anthers
very long and tortuous. F e r t il e F l . Style scarcely any : stigmas 3, thick,
2-lobed, granular. Fruit a fleshy or almost ligneous pepo, with a hard rind.
Seeds numerous, obovate, compressed, with a tumid border, 2-lobed at the
base. Root annual.
1. L . vulgaris (Seringe): clothed with a soft pubescence, and exhaling a