Tas. 6873, 
TRICHOSANTHES parmata. 
Native of India. 
Nat. Ord. CucurBiTracEx.—Tribe CUcUMERINES. 
Genus Tr1cHosantueEs, Linn.; (Benth. et Hook.f. Gen. Pl. vol. i. p. 821.) 
TRIcHOsANTHES palmata; herba alte scandens, glabra pubescens v. ramulis foliis- 
_ que minute tuberculata, caule angulato, foliis petiolatis palmatim 5-7-lobatis 
v. -angulatis dentatis, angulis lobisve acutis v. obtusis sinubus interdum 
profundis, floribus masculis amplis albis in racemum elongatum dispositis, 
bracteis magnis vaginantibus ovatis obovatisve basi angustatis integris serratis 
v. fimbriatis, sepalis dentatis serratis laceratis v. subpinnatifidis, corolle seg- 
mentis cuneatis margine exteriore fimbriato, fructu globoso rubro aureo fasciato, 
seminibus numerosis obiongis marginibus obtusis. 
T. palmata, Rorb. Fl. Ind. vol. iii. p. 704; Wight and Arn. Prodr. p. 350; 
Wight Lil. Pl. Ind. Or. t. 104, 105; Dalz. and Gibs. Bomb. Fl. p. 103; 
Clarke in Fl. Brit. Ind. vol. ii. p. 606. : 
T. laciniosa, Wall. Cat. 6689. 
T. tricuspis, Miguel Fl. Ind. Bat. vol. i. pt. 1, p. 679. 
T. bracteata, Kurz in Journ. As. Soc. Beng. 1877, pt. 2, p. 99. 
Invotucrartra Wallichii, Seringe in DC. Prodr. vol. iii. p. 318. 
It is remarkable that this, which is one of the commonest 
and most conspicuous plants of India, should not have been 
figured in any work devoted to garden plants; and this 
though its seeds, like others of the family to which it 
belongs, long retain their vitality, and are certain to 
germinate, and though its culture is easy, its foliage 
Striking, and its scarlet fruit with golden stripes as con- 
Spicuous and beautiful as are its snow-white flowers, fringed 
hke a parasol, with filaments of exquisite delicacy. It 
been grown at Kew at various times within the last 
twenty years, but as it is not included in the second 
edition of Aiton’s ‘“‘ Hortus Kewensis” (published in 1813), 
it must be regarded as a comparatively modern introduction. 
According to Mr. Clarke, who monographed the Cucur- 
bitacee of India for the “Flora of British India,” 
T. palmata is a very variable plant, having large acutely 
angular glabrous leaves and large flowers with long fimbriz 
_ MaY Isr, 1886. 
sins Ti ah et ct 
