Cucurbitaceae
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Authority
Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.
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Family
Cucurbitaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Family Description - Monoecious or dioecious, the fls unisexual, epigynous, regular, gamopetalous or polypetalous; cal (3–)5(–6)-lobed, sometimes to the base; stamens attached to the hypanthium or seldom around the summit of the ovary, basically 5, unithecal, and alternate with the corolla- lobes, but in nearly all spp. showing some degree of displacement, reduction, and fusion, often apparently 3, 2 double with dithecal (tetrasporangiate) anthers, and one single, with a unithecal (bisporangiate) anther; ovary mostly of 3 carpels, unilocular with intruded, often much-enlarged parietal placentas, or these seldom joined in the center and the ovary thus plurilocular; style mostly solitary, with 1–3(–5) usually bilobed stigmas or stigma-lobes; fr usually a berry or pepo, less often a capsule; seeds (1–)many, large, commonly compressed, with oily embryo and 2 large, flat cotyledons; herbaceous or softly woody plants, trailing or more often climbing by spirally coiled tendrils, with mostly white or yellow or greenish fls and simple, alternate, exstipulate, often lobed lvs. 90/700, mainly warm reg.
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Common Names
The gourd family