. 
Tab. 7109. ee 
SICANA spHERIca. 
Native of Jamaica, 
. ' Nat. Ord. CucurBITAcex.—Tribe CucuUMERINEZ. : 
Genus Sicana, Vaud.; (Benth. et Heok. f. Gen. Pl. vol. iii, p. 829.) 
‘ 
Stcana spherica; ramulis puberulis, foliis ambitu reniformibus glaberrimis 
punctulatisve 3—5-lobatis basi profunde 2-lobis sinu rotundato, lobis ovatis 
longe acuminatis integerrimis denticulatisve, cirrhis 3-fidis apicibus dila- 
tatis, pedunculis solitariis, masculo robusto glabro, calycis tomentosi lobis 
ovatis patentibus, corolla ampla intus tomentoxa; fl. masc. filamentis 
brevissimis liberis glabris, antheris connatis loculis intricatint contortis, 
ovario cylindraceo, staminodiis obsoletis v. ad setas reductis, fructo 
globoso glaberrimo indehiscente, seminibus complanatis anguste alatis. - 
The genus Sicana was founded by Naudin on a widely 
distributed and cultivated American Cucurbit, discovered 
by Piso in Brazil in the early part of the seventeenth 
century, known from Mexico to Brazilas the Curuba, but 
hot introduced into Europe till 1862, when seeds were sent 
to the Jardin des Plantes from Peru. Its strongly- 
Scented Cucumber-like fruit is used in America as a pre- 
‘Servative of the attacks of noxious insects, both from the 
person and from garments, &c. Hitherto only one species, 
S. odorifera, was known, and that certainly known only ir 
cultivation, for I find no clear indication of any native 
locality, nor are there any but cultivated specimens in our 
‘Herbaria. According to Naudin the genus differs from 
Cucurbita in the reflexed calyx-lobes, connate filaments 
and free anther. To Sicana must now, I think, be added the 
plant here figured, notwithstanding that it differs in its 
Spreading calyx-lobes, and consolidated anthers (characters 
which would bring Sicana closer to Cucurbita), as it does 
from both in the reduction of the staminodes to obscure 
tufts of bristles at the base of the calyx-tube. From S. 
odorifera it further differs in the globose fruit about the 
size of an orange. 7 oe S : 
Mr. Morris informs me that -S. spherica was found in a 
Yavine in the Blue Mountains, Jamaica, at an elevation of 
Apri Isr, 1890. 
