546 LXIV. CUCURBITACEEZ (HOOKER). [ Cucumis. 
fl. : Peduncles short, stout, densely hispid with spreading brown hairs. 
Fruit small, }—}in., broadly ovoid, both aculeate and densely clothed 
with acicular brown bristles. Seeds many, white, ovate, contracted 
above the truncate base, } in. long, with a broad thickened border and 
depressed disk. 
Nile Land. Abyssinia in Tigre, Schimper, 1457 (1863-8)! A very distinct 
species. 
9. C. Melo, Linn. Sp. Pl. 1436. Pale green. Stems short, slender, 
angular, scabrid with short, straight and curved prickles. Leaves rs 
long, coriaceous, reniform-cordate or ovate, palmately 3—5-lobed, lobes 
rounded, obtuse, irregularly toothed and waved, scabrid on both sur- 
faces with white papillae. Male fl.: Small. Anthers ciliate, cone 
produced into a serrate oblong appendage. Female fl. : Peduncle a . 
Ovary clothed with silky appressed hairs. Fruit globose, sweet, edi le, 
$ in. diameter, softly hairy, greenish-yellow. Seeds 3 in. long, ye 5 
oblong, smooth, pale brown, without thickened margins or bed 
disk. ? C. madraspatanus, Roxb. Fl. Ind. iii. 723 (not of Linn.) 6. 
arenarius, Schum. et Thonn. Pl. Guin. 427. 
a 
Upper Guinea. Borgu, on the Niger, on sandy places, Barter! | 
Wile Land. Abyssinia, Hoth! ALthiopia, Kotschy! Nubia, Petherick! : r 
This is undoubtedly one of the forms of small wild melon indicated by i = 
very close to the C. madraspatunus, Roxb., pubescens, Willd., and turbinatus, ‘Melo 
of India, and is one of the natural races included by Naudin in his 7th tribe of = a 
Chito. Barter describes the fruit as eaten, and called Boange by the Nupe peop > as 
of the flavour of a “green flesh mon.” It is very probable that some of the pate 
cluded under C. dipsaceus may also be referable to C. Melo, but without fruit 1t 18 
possible to determine. 
10. C. sagittatus, Wanr. et Peyr., Sert. Benguel. 27. Annual ! 
Scabrid and white with minute close-set small prickles. Stem very 
slender, much branched, angular, angles white. Leaves small, 1 - 
long, sagittate, sinuate-toothed, very scabrid on both surfaces, 
times almost silky with stiff white appressed hairs, basal sinus se 7 
acute, lobes spreading, lobulate or entire; petioles 4—? in., tendy 
very slender. Male fi.: Small; peduncles very short. Calyx a 
Anthers short, ciliate; connective produced into a rather long ic 
appendage, glandular at the tip. Female fl.: Small, almost sess 
Ovary densely clothed with soft straight snow-white hairs. nl 
short, peduncled ; unripe globose, green, silky ; ripe 2 in. long; ge 
with yellow stripes, quite smooth and glabrous. 
: ae the 
Lower Guinea. Benguela, Wawra! Mossamedes, sandy maritime shores a 
Bero river, Dr. Welwitsch / 
a ed. 
_Apparently a well-marked species, of which a fragment only of the fruit is preser¥ 
Welwitsch describes it as variable in the form and hairiness of the leaves. 
ll. C. hirsutus, Sond. in Fl. Cap. ii. 497. Perennial ; discon 
dark greenish-brown when dry, hirsute all over, old specimens _ 
scabrid. Root tuberous (Welw.). Stem rather stiff, angular, and ae 
oles and peduncles hispid with long spreading slender stiff 
