544 LXIV, CUCURBITACER (HOOKER). [ Cucumis. 
nial. Stem slender, angled; petioles and peduncles scabrid with stiff 
white prickles. Leaves very variable, coriaceous, very scabrid, 1-2 in. 
in diameter, generally longer than broad, 3—7-lobed to or below the 
middle, sinus dilated and rounded at the base ; lobes obovate, acutely 
toothed, rounded or acute; petioles rather short. Tendrils short, 
rather stiff. Male fl.: Calyx hispid. Anthers with long projecting 
gland-tipped connectives, obscurely ciliate. Female fl.: Stigmas ses- 
sile, oblong-obcordate. Ovary densely clothed with stiff, short, conic, 
rigid sete, each with a transparent pungent tip. Fruit 1} in. long, 
broadly ovoid, yellow, densely clothed with soft spines 4 in. long. 
Seeds small, } in. long, elliptic-oblong, smooth, white or pale brown, 
without thickened margins or depressed disk.—C. ficifolius, A. Rich. 
Fl. Abyss. i. 294, t. 53 bis, et C. abyssinicus, A. Rich. lc. ex Naudin- 
? GC. chrysocomus, Schum. et Thonn. Pl. Guin. 427. 
Nile Land. Abyssinia, Quartin-Dillon, Petit ! 
Lower Guinea. Loanda, on sandy sea-shores, Dr. Welwitsch ! 
Mozamb. Distr. Above Senna, Dr. Kirk! ai 
Welwitsch’s specimens have more scattered spines than Kirk’s, or the Abyssima, 
or than Natal ones grown in the Paris garden. Welwitsch describes the plant as a0 
annual, and the fruit as tasting of cucumber; Naudin, as bitter. The latter deseribes 5 
forms: a. ficifolius (Abyssinia and Arabia), with leaves like those of Ficus Cariea, long 
female peduncles and scattered tubercles, rarely spines on the fruit. . microphyllus 
(Abyssinia), smaller, leaves of form and colour of C, Prophetarum, fruit shortly peduneled, 
muricate, or obscurely tubercled. c. eyrtopodus, n. sp. (Abyssinia), leaves villous-hispid, 
ovary on short slender peduncle, clothed with fine hairs; unripe fruit hardly muricate. 
d. echinophorus (Arabia), leaves of a, but ashy white, female flower very small, fruit 
covered with long spines, peduncle long, slender ¢. dissectus (Abyssinia), leaves 
divided nearly to the base into narrow lobes, peduncle and fruit of d. 
. . f ? 
5. C. pustulatus, Hook. f. (C. Figarei var. pustulatus, Naud. al 
Perennial. Hoary and scabrid. Stem rather stout, angled, mg! 
beset with short white prickles. Leaves }—-2in. in diameter, pia 
ous, very variable, oblong rounded or cordate, subentire or more fe 
less deeply 38-5-lobed, lobes obtuse, quite entire or toothed; petiore 
rather short. Tendrils short, rather rigid. Male fl.: Calyx cam 
panulate, shortly scabrid. Connective shortly produced into a 1 
glandular appendage. Female f.: Ovary covered with short stov 
prickles. Fruit on very stout peduncles, 14—3 in. long, broadly yh i 
rounded at both ends, covered with scattered, thick, conical tubercle 
or spines. Seeds small, Lin., whitish, smooth, elliptic-oblong, "ao 
out thickened border or depressed disk.—C. abyssinicus, Schimp. : 
Abyss. n. 412. (1853 ex. herb. Mus. Par.) in A. Rich. Fl. Abyss: ! 
204. ? Cucumis striatus, A. Rich. l.c. 295. 
North Central. Kouka, Vogel! 
Wile Land. Abyssinia, Roth! Schimper! n. 835 (1863-8). “ze and 
I refer here a plant differing remarkably from C. Prophetarum in the large #17 
stout processes of the fruit, and @ its very stout peduncle. One of the Abyssinian nd 
cimens, which has fruit 3 iv. long, is labelled in Herb. Hook. C. Figarei, Del.i 
another, with fruit 14 in., is mentioned as ©. Prophetarum by Naudin in A0n. eae: it is 
(sér. 4. xi. 16.) [assume Nandin’s @. Figarei, var. pustulatus to be the same; it 
a large-leaved form, cultivated in the Jardin deg Plantes, of which I have see? no nas 
I gathered C. pustulatus at Aden in 1847 and 1851. The fruit of the Aden speci 
is scabrid as well as aculeate, which is not the case in others from Arabia Petre 
