Flowers monœcious. Corolla rotate, deeply 5-parted. Stamens united into a central column, the anther solitary in our species and annular. Ovary (1–3-) usually 2-celled and 4-locellate with 4 erect or ascending ovules. Fruit spiny, obliquely ovoid and gibbous, beaked, bursting irregularly. Seeds flattened.—Slender glabrous climbing annuals or perennials, with very small racemose or panicled white sterile flowers and a solitary fertile one in the same axil. (Name from κύκλος, a circle, and ἀνθήρα, anther.)
1. C. dissécta, Arn. Annual; leaves digitately 3–7-foliolate, the oblong divisions somewhat lobed or toothed; tendrils simple or bifid; fruit 1´ long, on a short peduncle.—Central Kan. to Tex. and Mex.
4. MELÒTHRIA, L.
Flowers polygamous or monœcious; the sterile campanulate, the corolla 5-lobed; the fertile with the calyx-tube constricted above the ovary, then campanulate. Anthers more or less united. Berry small, pulpy, filled with many flat and horizontal seeds.—Tendrils simple. Flowers very small. (Altered from μήλωθρον, an ancient name for a sort of white grape.)
1. M. péndula, L. Slender, from a perennial root, climbing; leaves small, roundish and heart-shaped, 5-angled or lobed, roughish; sterile flowers few in small racemes; the fertile solitary, greenish or yellowish; berry oval, green, 4–6´´ long.—Copses, Va. to Fla., west to S. Ind. and La.
5. CUCÚRBITA, L.
Flowers monœcious, mostly solitary. Calyx-tube campanulate; corolla campanulate, 5-lobed to the middle. Filaments distinct; anthers linear, united, sigmoid. Ovary oblong, with short thick style, 3–5 2-lobed stigmas, and 3–5 parietal placentas; ovules numerous, horizontal. Fruit smooth, fleshy with a hard rind, indehiscent.—Prostrate scabrous vines, rooting at the joints, with large yellow flowers and large fruit. (The Latin name for the Gourd.)
1. C. fœtidíssima, HBK. Root very large, fusiform; leaves thick, triangular-cordate; flowers 3–4´ long; fruit globose or obovoid, 2–3´ in diameter. (C. perennis, Gray.)—Central Neb. to Tex., and westward.
Order 46. CACTÀCEÆ. (Cactus Family.)
Fleshy and thickened mostly leafless plants, of peculiar aspect, globular or columnar and many-angled, or flattened and jointed, usually with prickles. Flowers solitary, sessile; the sepals and petals numerous, imbricated in several rows, the bases adherent to the 1-celled ovary.—Stamens numerous, with long and slender filaments, inserted on the inside of the tube or cup formed by the union of the sepals and petals. Style 1; stigmas numerous. Fruit a 1-celled berry, with numerous campylotropous seeds on several parietal placentæ.