(Plate XLIX.)

Family

Gourd.

Colour

Greenish white.

Odour

Scentless.

Range

Maine southward and westward.

Time Of Bloom

July-September.

Flowers: small; the staminate ones closely crowded in a raceme; the pistillate ones growing singly. Fruit: large; ovate; green; covered with slender spines. Leaves: three to seven lobed, the middle lobe longest; deeply cordate at base; serrated; rough on both sides. Stem: grooved; branching; climbing by tendrils that are three-forked.

Unlike most of our.climbers, we find this one in flower and fruit at the same time. In its wild state it follows the rivers, but throughout the east we find it mostly cultivated for ornament.

Calyx and fruit.

Vertical section of column, ovary, etc.