towards the base of the fruit while the hypocotyl emerges 
from the apex and emits several rootlets. As these 
rootlets find their way into the soil the stem arises from 
between the cotyledons; the enlargement of the root 
does not take place until the second year. In Mexico 
advantage is taken of this peculiarity, and the seed is 
allowed to germinate before the fruit is planted. 
Descriprion.—Shrub, monoecious, climbing extensively; stem over 4 in. 
thick; branches sulcate, smooth, glabrous. Leaves membranous, up to 
10 in. across, rounded cordate, sinus sometimes broad, at others deep and 
narrow, margin angularly 3-5-lobed, the lobes entire or occasionally finely 
toothed, middle lobe acuminate, scabrid above, smooth except on the nerves 
and veins beneath; petiole smooth, glabrous, up to 6 in. long. Tendrils 
glabrous, 2-2} in. long, simple below, then usually 38-fid, Male flowers 
racemose; peduncle up to 1 ft. long; racemes short and dense or broken up 
into irregularly disposed fascicles ; pedicels very short, beset with short white 
hairs. Receptacle hemispherical, short, almost glabrous outside. Sepals 
linear-subulate or subulate, about 3 in. long. Corolla nearly 5-partite ; 
segments ovate, acute, 3-1 in. long, pale-yellowish. Staminal colwmn very 
short; anthers free, ;4,-; in. long, one 1-celled, the others 2-celled, the cells 
sigmoid. Female flowers solitary or in pairs, here and there in company with 
the male racemes, with calyx and corolla as in the males. Ovary inferior, 
obovoid, abruptly narrowed at the tip into a thin short neck, slightly 5-grooved, 
often hirtellous. Style 3,-} in. long; stigma depressed-capitate. ruzt large, 
more or less pyriform, fleshy, deeply grooved, smooth or beset with soft spinules. 
Seed solitary, ovate, compressed; testa woody, smooth. Embryo with fleshy 
cotyledons, often germinating in the fruit. 
Tan. 8738.—Fig. 1, male flower; 2, stamens; 3, female flower, sepals and 
petals removed; 4, ovary, in vertical section; 5, fruit, a portion removed to 
show seed germinating in situ; 6, embryo:—all enlarged except 5 and 6, which 
are of natural size. 
