CUCURBITACEAE, a botanical order of dicotyledons, containing 87 genera and about 650 species, found in the temperate and warmer parts of the earth but especially developed in the tropics. The plants are generally annual herbs, climbing by means of tendrils and having a rapid growth. The long-stalked leaves are arranged alternately, and are generally palmately lobed and veined. The flowers or inflorescences are borne in the leaf-axils, in which a vegetative bud is also found, and at the side of the leaf-stalk is a simple or branched tendril. There has been much difference of opinion as to what member or members the tendril represents; the one which seems most in accordance with facts regards the tendril as a shoot, the lower portion representing the stem, the upper twining portion a leaf. The flowers are unisexual, and strikingly epigynous, the perianth and stamens being attached to a bell-shaped prolongation of the receptacle above the ovary. The five narrow pointed sepals are followed by five petals which are generally united to form a more or less bell-shaped corolla. There are five stamens in the male flowers; the anthers open towards the outside, are one-celled, with the pollen-sacs generally curved and variously united. The carpels, normally three in number, form an ovary with three thick, fleshy, bifid placentas bearing a large number of ovules on each side, and generally filling the interior of the ovary with a juicy mass. The short thick style has generally three branches each bearing a fleshy, usually forked stigma. The fruit is a fleshy many-seeded berry with a tough rind (known as a pepo), and often attains considerable size. The embryo completely fills the seed.
| Fig. 1.—Bryonia dioica, Bryony. 1, part of corolla of male flower with attached stamens; 2, female flower after removal of calyx and corolla; 3, berries; 1, 2, 3 about nat. size. |
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| Fig. 2. | |
1, Male flower of cucumber (Cucumis). 2, Same, in vertical section, slightly enlarged. 3, Stamens, after removal of calyx and corolla. | 4, Female flower. 5, Horizontal plan of male flower. 6, Transverse section of fruit.
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The order is represented in Britain by bryony (Bryonia dioica), (fig. 1) a hedge-climber, perennial by means of large fleshy tubers which send up each year a number of slender angular stems. The leaves are heart-shaped with wavy margined lobes. The flowers are greenish, ½ to ¾ in. in diameter; the fruit, a red several-seeded berry, is about ¼ in. in diameter.
Many genera are of economic importance; Cucumis (fig. 2) affords cucumber (q.v.) and melon (q.v.) Cucurbita, pumpkin and marrow; Citrullus vulgaris is water-melon, and C. Colocynthis, colocynth; Ecballium Elaterium (squirting cucumber) is medicinal; Sechium edule (chocho), a tropical American species, is largely cultivated for its edible fruit; it contains one large seed which germinates in situ. Lagenaria is the gourd (q.v.). The fruits of Luffa aegyptiaca have a number of closely netted vascular bundles in the pericarp, forming a kind of loose felt which supplies the well-known loofah or bath-sponge.
CUDDALORE, a town of British India, in the South Arcot district of Madras, on the coast 125 m. S. of Madras by rail. Pop. (1901) 52,216, showing an increase of 10% in the decade. It lies low, but is regarded as exceptionally healthy, and serves as a kind of sanatorium for the surrounding district. The principal exports are sugar, oil-seeds and indigo. There are two colleges and two high schools. In the neighbourhood are the ruins of Fort St David situated on the river Gadilam, which has as stirring a history as any spot in the Presidency. As a small fort built by a Hindu merchant it fell into the hands of the Mahrattas after the capture of Gingi by Sivaji in 1677. From them it was purchased by the English in 1690, the purchase including not only the fort but the adjacent towns and villages “within ye randome shott of a piece of ordnance.” A great gun was fired to different points of the compass and all the country within its range, including the town of Cuddalore, passed into the possession of the English. The villages thus obtained are still spoken of as “cannon ball villages.” From 1725 onwards the fortifications were greatly strengthened. In 1746 Fort St David became the British headquarters for the south of India, and Dupleix’ attack was successfully repulsed. Clive was appointed its governor in 1756; in 1758 the French captured it, but abandoned it two years later to Sir Eyre Coote. In 1782 they again took it and restored it sufficiently to withstand a British attack in 1783. In 1785 it finally passed into British possession.
CUDDAPAH, a town and district of British India, in the Madras Presidency. The town is 6 m. from the right bank of the river Pennar, and 161 m. by rail from Madras. Pop. (1901) 16,432. It is now a poor place, but has some trade in cotton and indigo, and manufactures of cotton cloth. Hills surround it on three sides, and it has a bad reputation for unhealthiness.