Gj - 
490 : CUCURBITACE (Sond.)  [Luffa. 
long, glabrous, attenuated at the apex. Stigma (only in one flower seen) bilobed. 
Fruit unknown. 
y » V. LUFFA, Tournef. Cav. 
Flowers moncecious or rarely dicecious. Calyx 5-toothed, tube in the 
male campanulate or turbinate, in the female oblong-clavate, Petals 
5, somewhat deciduous. Male: Stamens 3 ; 2-bilocular, deeply bipar- 
tite, the third unilocular ; anthers very flexuous. Female : Stamens 
more or less abortive. Style 3-cleft ; stigmas reniform or bipartite. 
Pepo becoming at length dry and fibrous within, usually opening by 
the fall or decay of a lid or stopple at the apex, sometimes indehiscent. 
Seeds broad-oval, flattened. W. & Arn. 1. c. 343. Endl. Gen. 5134. 
Naudin Ann. Scienc. nat. 4th Series, Bot. XII. p, 118. 
Has. Herbaceous, climbing herbs with angulate stems. 2-7-partite tendrils, pal- 
mate-lobed leaves, and large yellow flowers, Male peduncles racemose, female 
1-flowered. Name from Louff, the Arabic name of L. gyptiaca. 
ANALYSIS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN SPECIES, 
Stem glabrous ; leaves palmately 3-5-lobed, lobes ovate, acute (1) spherica. 
Stem pubescent ; leaves palmately 5-lobed, lobes obovate, obtuse (2) Caledonica. 
1. L. spherica (Sond.) ; stem sulcate, glabrous ; leaves triangulate, 
palmately 3—5-lobate, at the base subcuneate, biglandulose, lobes ovate, 
acute, repand-mucronate-dentate, or the lower ones bifid, upper side 
slightly scabrous, under with very short hairs and paler; male racemes 
long peduncled, 2—6-flowered ; calyx campanulate, with short, subulate 
teeth ; petals large, obovate. Lagenaria spherica, FE. Meyer in herb. 
Drege. 
Has. Between Omsamculo and Omcomas, Drege ; Port Natal, Krauss, 89. Plant 
103. Gerrard § McKen., 556. April. (Herb. Hk, D., Sd.) 
Tendrils bifid. Petiole 2-uncial, at the base of the cuneate leaf with 2 acutish 
glands. Leaves about 4 inches long and broad, deeply lobed ; lobes toothed or 
lobate-dentate, especially in the smaller upper leaves. Peduncles as long as the 
leaves, glabrous. Calyx about 4 lines long, glabrous. Petals 1-14 inch, much 
veined. Stamens 3-4, distinct ; anthers 2-3 lines long. Female plant not seen. 
2, L. Caledonica (Sond.); moncecious ; stem sulcate, as well as the 
petioles with short, yellowish pubescence ; leaves palmately-5-lobate, with- 
out glands at the base; lobes obovate, obtuse, shortly mucronate-dentate, 
upper side glabrous, under with short, appressed hairs on the nerves 
and veins; male racemes long peduncled, 2~-5-flowered ; calyx turbi- 
nate, with subulate teeth, as well as the peduncle beset with long, 
articulated, yellowish hairs ; petals large ; female flowers short-pedun- 
cled ; fruit (half-ripe) oblong, tapering to each end, reddish, smooth, 
and glabrous. 
(ers Hy) Nie near Caledon river, Dec. Burke, 305 ; Zeyher, 589. 
tem several feet long. Tendril bifid. Petiole uncial. inches long and 
wide, middle lobeabout 14 inch broad, scarcely paler on the prvi Male, fasten 
solitary or fascicled, 4-1 foot, pedicels 6-3 lineslong. Calyx-tube } inch, 3 lines 
long. Petals twice or thrice longer than the calyx. Filaments 3, distinct, very short ; 
anthers cohering, flexuose, about 2 lines long. Peduncle of the female flower 3-4 
pe ng. Young fruit somewhat fleshy, when half-ripe, about 3 inches long, 
ch broad, 
