Tas. 8738. 
SECHIUM EDULE. 
Tropical America. 
CucuRBITACEAE. Tribe SicyorpEAE. 
Securum, P. Br.; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant. vol. i. p. 887; Cogn. in 
DC. Mon. Phan, vol, iii. p. 900. 
Sechium edule, Sw. Fl. Ind. Occ. vol. ii. p. 1150; Willd. Spee. Pl. vol. iv. 
p. 427; Griseb. Fl. Brit. West Ind. p. 236; Naudin in Ann. Sc. Nat. sér. 
iv. vol. xviii. p. 205; Gard. Chron. 1865, p. 51, cum icon. (fr.) e¢ 1900, vol. 
xxviii. p. 450, cum icon. ; A. S [mith] in Treas, Bot. vol. ii. p. 1044 ; Cogn. 
in Mart. Fl. Bras. vol. vi. pars iv. p. 110, t. 35 ef lc. p. 901; Kew Bull. 
1887, Aug., pp. 6-9 et 1896, p. 128; Agr. Gaz. New South Wales, vol. iv. 
(1898), p. 416, t. 28; Cooke in U.S. Dep. Agric. Bull. 28 (1901), pp. 1-31, 
tt. 1-8; Agr. Prat. de Pays Chauds, vol. vii. pars ii. p. 5, tt. I. & IL; 
R. I. Lynch in Garden, 1917, vol. lxxxi. p. 809, cum icon.; species unica. 
Frutex monoicus, alte scandens, caule ultra 10 em. diametro, ramis sulcatis 
glabris laevibus. Folia membranacea, rotundato-cordata, sinu lato vel 
angusto et profundo, 3-5-angulato-lobata, lobis integris vel rarius minute 
denticulatis, intermedio acuminato, ad 25 cm. lata, supra scabra, subtus 
praeter nervos venasque laevia; petiolus glaber, laevis, ad 15 cm. longus. 
Cirrhi glabri, ad 5-6 em. indivisi, deinde plerumque 3-fidi. Flores ¢ 
racemosi; racemi pedunculo nudo ad 80 cm. longo suffulti, congesti 
brevesque vel in iculos varie distantes soluti; pedicelli perbreves, 
albo-hirtelli. Receptaculwm hemisphaericum, haud altum, extra sub- 
glabrum. Sepala lineari-subulata vel subulata, circiter 8 mm. longa. 
Corolla fere 5-partita, segmentis ovatis acutis 5-6 mm. longis albo-flavidis. 
Columna staminalis 1-1-5 mm. longa; antherae liberae, 2-2°5 mm. 
longae, una 1-locularis, caeterae 2-loculares, loculis sigmatoideis. 
Flores Q solitarii vel bini, passim cum ¢ racemis ex eadem axilla orti, 
breviter pedunculati, floribus ¢ quoad calycem corollamque similes. 
Ovarium inferum, obovoideum, apice subito in collum tenue breve con- 
strictum, leviter 5-sulcatum, saepe hirtellum. Stylus 2-38 mm. longus; 
stigma depresso-capitatum. Fructus magnus, magis minusve pyriformis, 
carnosus, profunde sulcatus, laevis vel spinulis mollibus echinatus. 
Semen 1, ovatum, compressum; testa lignosa, laevis. Embryo coty- 
ledonibus carnosis, saepe germinans dum fructu inclusus.—S. americanum, 
Poir. in Lam. Encycl. Meth. vol. vii. p. 156, Sicyos edulis, Jacq. Pl. 
Carib. p. 82; Select. Stirp. Amer. p. 258, t. 163. Chayota edulis, Jacq. 
Select. Stirp. Amer. ed. pict. vol. ii. t. 245. Cucumis acutangulus, 
Descourt. Fl. Antill. vol. v. p. 94, tab. 328, excl. syn.; non Linn.— 
O. Srapr, 
. 
The interesting Cucurbitaceous plant, Sechium edule, 
which forms the subject of our illustration, is known 
from Mexico southwards to Panama as the Chayote, a 
DecemBer, 1917. : 
