ber grows vigorously and fruits freely. The fruits are 
of an olive green colour until they are quite ripe, when 
they become rich scarlet; they remain on the stems long 
after the latter are dead, and at this stage, as they hang in 
the late autumn from the rafters of the Tropical Aquatic 
house at Kew, along with the fruits of the other gourds 
grown there, are highly ornamental.  C. metuliferus is 
easily propagated from its seeds, which are produced in 
quantity. 
Description.— Herb; climbing by means of tendrils. 
Stem slender, hispid or setose. Leaves alternate; petiole 
1-4 in. long, hispid; blade 3-5-lobed, the lobes acute or 
cuspidate-acuminate, their margin irregulariy toothed, 
hispid on both sides, 2-5 in. long, and as much across. 
Tendrils simple, slender, sparingly hispid. FJowers 1-sexual, 
the males in clusters, the females solitary, almost hispidly 
villous outside like the peduncles; the ovary with spinulous 
tubercles; male peduncles 2-10 lin. long, females 3-1} in. 
long. Calyx with an obconic-campanulate tube, 2-24 lin. 
long ; teeth subulate, half as long as the tube. Corolla 
d-lobed, 14-1} in. wide, yellow; lobes ovate, obtuse. 
Stamens 3; filaments very short; anthers oblong, 1-14 lin. 
long, very finely ciliate, with crenulate apical crests. Style 
2 lin, long , stigma large, 3-lobed. Fruit 23-5 in. long, 
13-23 in. thick, oblong or ellipsoid, bluntly 3-gonous, beset 
with thick narrowly conical spines 1-4 in. long, rich scarlet 
When ripe. Seeds } in. long, ovate, smooth, faintly 
margined. 
acute 1, section of a lower portion of a male flower, showing the insertion of 
Stamens; 2, a stamen; 3, style and stigma of a femal ; bercles 
from an ovary; 5, a seed Small enlarged. . oe 
