fetid musky odor; stem climbing; tendrils 3-4-cleft; leaves cordate, nearly
entire or lobed, with 2 glands at the base ; flowers fascicled; petals widely
spreading; fruit clavate-ventricose, pubescent, at length glabrous and very
smooth— DC. 1. c. Cucurbita Lagenaria, L in n .; Lam. ill. t. 795: Nutt,
gen. 2.p . 228 ; Ell. sic. 2. p. 662.
Cultivated by the Indians from the earliest discovery of North America,
and naturalized in many portions of the Southern States. It is the well-
known Calibash or Bottle-Gourd.
Neurosperma, Raf. (m jour. phys. $c. 1819) is most probably, as Serin™
suspects, nothing more than the Balsam.Apple (Momordica Balsamina), which is
often cultivated, but scarcely naturalized in the United States.
Cucurbita verrucosa (a species of Squash) is mentioned by Nuttall as a plant
which has long been cultivated by the aborigines beyond the Mississippi.
Order LXI. GROSSULACE^. D C .
Calyx adherent, campanulate or tubular, colored, marcescent, 5-
( rarely 4-) c le f t ; the segments mostly equal, imbricate in estivation,
at length spreading or reflexed. Petals distinct, equal in number to
the segments o f the ca ly x and alternate with them, small, inserted
in the throat o f the calyx. Stamens as many as the petals and in-
seited alternately with them : anthers introrse. Ovary coherent
with the calyx.tube, 1-celled, with 2 parietal placenta : ovules nu-
merous or sometimes rather f ew : styles 2 (very rarely 3 -4 ) distinct
or united. Fruit a berry, crowned with the remains o f the flower,
1-celled, many-(rarely rather few.) seeded. Seeds anatropous, the
raphe at length distinct from the gelatinous testa : the inner integument
somewhat crustaceous, adhering firmly to the dense fleshy a lbumen.
Embryo minute, excentric, next the micropyle.—Shrubs
either spiny or unarmed, with alternate (often fascicled) palmately
veined and lobed exstipulate leaves, which are sometimes sprinkled
with resinous dots. Flowers (rarely dioecious) racemose, either produced
from the same bud with the leaves and terminating the very
short axillary branches, or sometimes from leafless buds.
1. RIBES. L in n .; Juss. gen. p. 281; DC. prodr. 3. p. 477.
Grossularia, Tourn.—Ribes & Robsonia, Endl.
Character same as of the Order.
§ 1. Stems armed with subaxillary spines and scattered priclcles: leaves plicate
in vernation: peduncles 2-3-flowered: segments of the calyx, petals, and
stamens 4 or sometimes 5 : filaments very much exserted: ovules rather few
m number, in a double series: berries prickly.—R obsonia, Berlandier.
1. R. speciosum (Pursh): stem thickly armed with bristly prickles, or
rarely naked ; subaxillary spines 3, united at the base ; leaves roundish, 3-
lobed, glabrous ; the lobes short and obtuse, crenately toothed; peduncles 2 -
4-flowered, with large ovate bracts ; calyx tubular, somewhat 4-sided, deeply
4-5-parted, glandular; petals cuneiform, as long as the erect calyx-segments
; stamens very much exserted; style as long as the stamens, minutely
2-cleft at the apex; ovary and pedicels clothed with glandular bristles.—
Pursh ! fi. 2.p. 732; DC. prodr. 3.p. 478 ; Don, in B rit.fi. gard. (ser. 2.)
I" 149 Lindl. bot. reg. 1.1557; Hoolc. Sp A m .! bot. Beechey, suppl. p. 345.
R. stamineum, Smith ! in Rees cyclop.; DC. 1. c. p. 477; Hook.! fi. Bor.-
Am. 1. p. 229. R. fuschioides, Berlandier, in mem. soc. Genev. 3. t. 3.
California, Menzies! Douglas! Nuttall!—Flowers large and showy,
bright red, resembling those of Fuchsia. “ The trunk about as thick as a
man’s arm.” (Nutt.)—This singular and beautiful species is indicated as a
genus by Berlandier. It has recently been taken up by Spach (in Suites a
Bvfion) and adopted by Endlicher, chiefly on account of its few-seeded
berry. The ovary is said by the latter authors to bear about three ovules
upon each placenta in a single series. We find however from 8 to 12 upon
each placenta disposed in two rows.
§ 2. Stems usually armed with subaxillary spines, and oftenpriclcly: leaves
plicate in vernation : peduncles 1—3-flowered: calyx more or less campanulate:
ovules very numerous, in several rows: berries often prickly.—Gros-
SUI.ARIA, A. Richard. (Gooseberry)
2. R. Menziesii (Pursh): stems prickly (or naked); subaxillary spines 3;
leaves cordate, 5-lobed, incisely serrate, veiny and rugose, tomentose-pubes-
cent beneath ; peduncles 1-2-flowered, as long as the leaf; calyx cylindrical-
campanulate, deeply 5-cleft, glandular; the segments spreading; stamens 5,
included; style a little e.xserted, 2-cleft; ovary and pedicels clothed with
glandular bristles ; fruit, densely echinate.—Pursh, fi. 2. p. 732 ; DC. 1. c. •
Hook.! fi. Bor.-Am. 1.p. 229, Spin bot. Beechey, p. 141 &■ 345. R. ferox’
Smith, l.c.; DC. l . c . ’
■ California, Menzies, Douglas! Nuttall!—Flowers large, red or deep rose-
color.— Our specimens from Douglas’s Californian Collection, as well as those
from Mr. Nuttall, have not prickly branches : but neither the prickles nor
the spines afford constant characters in this genus.
3. R. subvestitum (Hook. & Arn.): branches very bristly; subaxillary
spines 3-4, slender; leaves cordate, roundish, 3-5-lobed, incisely crenate,
slightly hairy above, the lower surface, as well as the petioles, peduncles
and calyx, glandularly pubescent; peduncles 1-3-flowered ; bracts roundish,
sheathing; tube of the calyx cylindrical-campanulate, longer than the very
glandular ovary, and shorter than the oblong at length reflexed segments •
stamens twice as long as the petals, and shorter than the simple (rarely 2-
cleft, ex Hook.) glabrous style.—Hook. Sp Am. ! 1. c.
California, Douglas!—A fine species, with flowers half an inch in length •
the segments of the calyx bright purple on the inside : the half-grown fruit is
gl&udular and hirsute. The anthers are large and mucronate.
4. R. Cynosbati (Linn.): Stems either unarmed or prickly; subaxillary
spines 1-3 ; leaves cordate, roundish, 3-5-lobed, more or less pubescent, the
lobes incisely serrate; peduncles slender, 2-3-flowered, the pedicels divaricate;
tube of the calyx cylindrical, very broad and short, slightly contracted
at the mouth ; the segments at length reflexed, shorter than the tube, longer
than the obovate petals; stamens and styles slightly included ; style undi