The Comparative Embryology Of The Cucurbitaceae PDF Download

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1904 edition. Excerpt: ... part ii. descriptive The Cucurbitaceae constitute a family of plants whose systematic position and relationship have been much disputed. Naudin and also Bentham and Hooker" have considered them more nearly allied to the Passifloraceae. Baillon3 has regarded them as related to the Loasaceae and Begoniaceae. They are usually regarded, however, in accordance with Braun's view, as near relatives of the Campanulaceae, from which they are separated chiefly by the character of the androecium and the lack of latex vessels. Eighty-five genera, of which by far the larger number belong to the Eastern Hemisphere, constitute this family. They.are mostly natives of the tropical or subtropical latitudes, a few only being natives of the temperate zones. For this reason the obtaining of material for this study has been beset with difficulties. Material sAitably prepared was difficult to obtain from the native habitats of some of the desirable forms, and those cultivated at New York City and Syracuse, N. Y. were in many cases unproductive. The eighty-five genera fall naturally into five tribes recognized by Engler and Prantl.64 Of the eight tribes into which the family was divided by Cogniaux20 four have been reduced very properly, it would seem, to subordinate rank. The tribes as they shall be considered here are the Fevilleae, Melothrieae, Cucurbiteae, Sicyoideae and Cyclanthereae. v The forms which have been studied in connection with this work comprise seventeen species selected partly because they were the best available, but at the same time an effort was made to obtain forms which would be as typical as possible of different tribes and representative of the most widely differing forms. They are divided among the different tribes as follows: in the...