Tab. 6932. 



MOMORDICA INVOLUCRATA. 

 Native of Natal. 



Nat. Ord. Cucubbitace.e. — Tribe Cucumebineje. 

 Genus Momoedica, Linn. ; (Benth. et Hook.f. Gen. PL vol. i. p. 825.) 



Momoedtca involucrata ; glaberrima, caulibus gracillimis, foliis petiolatis ambitu 

 orbieularibus v. late ovatis palmatim 5-lobis, lobis repando-dentatis dentibus 

 aristatis, pedunculis 1-floris, masculis elongatis apice bractea lata orbiculari 

 florem involucrante instructis, calycis segmentis rotundatis viridibus purpureo- 

 v. brunneo-striatis, corolla? navidse tubo brevi, lobis obovato-rotundatis, 

 tribus basi atro-purpureis, pedunculis fcemineis masculis brevioribus, infra 

 medium bractea parva instructis, ovario lageniforme subtuberculato, calycis 

 segmentis parvis ovato-lanceolatis, corolla maris sed minoie maculis 3 basi 

 minutis, stylo columnari, stigmatibus 3 capitellatis, fructu coccineo rhombeo- 

 ovoideo tuberculis sparsis, testa extus carnosa. 



M. involucrata, JE. Meyer in Herh. Drege ; Harv. and Sonder Fl. Cap. vol. ii. 

 p. 491 ; Baker in Saunder's Mefug. Bot. vol. iv. t. 223. 



This elegant climber seems to be a common plant in the 

 neighbourhood of Durban, where it was discovered by the 

 German collector Drege, and has since been found by 

 many collectors. It was introduced into cultivation by 

 Mr. Thomas Cooper, a collector for the late W. "Wilson 

 Saunders, Esq., F.R.S., who raised it from seeds in his 

 celebrated garden at Reigate in Surrey about twenty years 

 ago, and figured the plant in his " Refugium." 



The specimen here figured flowered in the Water Lily 

 House at Kew in July, 1886, and fruited profusely, forming 

 a very attractive feature in the house. 



Desok. An extensive glabrous climber; stem very 

 slender, copiously branched and festooning bushes and 

 buildings with its annual growths ; branches almost filiform. 

 Leaves one and a half to two inches in diameter, nearly 

 orbicular in outline, or very broadly ovate with a deeply 

 cordate base, membranous, bright green, five-lobed, lobes 

 ovate with a rounded sinus and a few broad apiculate teeth, 

 the terminal lobe sometimes again three-lobed, petiole one- 

 fourth to one inch, slender; tendrils simple, capillary, 

 sometimes six inches long. Male flowers solitary in all the 



APEIL 1st, 1887. 



