Cucumis. | CUCURBITACE (Sond.) 497 
1} inch long, 1 inch in diameter, not fasciated or striated ; spines numerous, about 
3 lines long,. at the base 2-3 lines wide. Seeds nearly 5 lines long, not margined. 
7. C, heptadactylus (Naud. 1. c. 24); perennial, dicecious, greyish ; 
stem and branches angulate, hispid, and scabrous ; leaves short, petio- 
late, palmate-digitate ; lobes 5-7, linear, elongate, entire, acute, with 
revolute margins, very scabrous ; male flowers subtubulose ; pepo ovoid, 
beset with short, weakly bristles, 
Has. Sandy places, Vanderwaltsfontyn, distr. Colesberg, Burke, 139, Zeyher, 591. 
on the Caledonriver, Burke, 7, Zeyher 590 ; Winterfeld, distr. Beaufort, Drege, 8183 
(not collected at Port Natal, as indicated by Naudin). Jan.—Feb. (Herb. Hk. Sd.) 
Many stems from the whitish root, 1-4 feet long, flexuous, sulcate- 
with a few branches, covered as well as the other — with short and stiff, spread- 
ing hairs. Tendrils short. Petioles in the lower leaves 4-8 lines, in the upper 2-3 
lines long. Limb of the leaves 2-3 lines ; the lobes unequal, the middle from 14-3 
inches long, 1-2 lines broad, the lower ones much shorter. Upper surface glabrous 
except the middle nerve. Flowers fascicled or subracemose, very small. Calyx 
lobes short, subulate, erect, spreading. Corolla hispidulous. Pepo 14—15 lines long, 
g—1o lines in diameter ; the bristle-like spines, 1-14 line long. 
8. C. hirsutus (Sond.); perennial, dicecious, hirsute ; branches elon- 
gate, sulcate-striate ; leaves short-petiolate, scabrous, ovate-cordate, den- 
tate, inciso-serrate or 3—5-lobed, lobes acute, the middle much longer ; 
flowers subsolitary on slender peduncles ; pepo subglobose, hirsute, at 
length glabrous or nearly so. 
Has. Sandy places near Wonderfontyn and Moojeriver, Betchuanaland, Burke, 
297, Zeyher, 581. Dec. Near Port Natal, Krauss. 91. (Herb. Hk. D. Sd.) 
Stem as thick as a pigeon’s quill, prostrate as the similar branches, several feet 
long. Tendrils short, in some branches often wanting. Petioles 2-3 lines long, 
hirsute. Leaves 1}-24 inches long, t inch broad, hirsute, and very scabrous, 
with shortly dentate margins, entire or lobed ; lateral lobes short, rarely 4 inch long, 
the middle lobe uncial or longer, ovate-lanceolate, rarely obtuse. Upper leaves of 
the branches twice or thrice shorter, usually entire and not scabrous. Peduncles 
about 1 inch long. Flowers subcampanulate, 4 inch, lobes of the corolla oblong. 
Ovary densely hirsute. Fruit 1 inch long and broad, on a longer peduncle. Seeds 
about 4 lines long, subeompressed, not margined. The edible fruit is acidulous, 
Zeyher. 
9. C. rigidus (E. Meyer in herb. Drege) ; perennial, stem erect, sul- 
cate-angulate, alternately branched, very. scabrous and appressedly 
hairy ; leaves petiolate, 3-lobed, scabrous and whitish by adpressed 
hairs, lobes ovate or obovate, obtuse, short-dentate, the middle lobe 
somewhat longer ; flowers axillary, pedunculate, scabrous-hairy out- 
wards ; fruit ovoid, beset with longish, subulate spines. 
Has. On the Gariep, Drege. Namaqualand, 4. Wyley. Sept. (Herb. D. Sd.) 
Whole plant greyish-white. Stem several feet high, as thick as a goose’s 
quill ; branchesspreading. Petioles uncial, thick, and rigid. Leaves 1 inch long 
and broad ; the lateral lobes 4-5 lines long, the middle about } inch long, 4-6 lines 
wide, on the margins and at the apex repand-dentate. Male flowers unknown, the 
females pale yellow. Petioles short, in fruit 4 inch long, thick. Ovary ovate, spinous- 
scabrous. Calyx campanulate, lobes subulate, 1 line long, green. “Style very short. 
Stigma thick, 3-lobed. Fruit 1} inch long, 1 inch in diameter, red or scarlet, the 
spines 2 lines long. Seeds compressed, not margined. 
Cucumis spec. Drege, 8182, without flower and fruit, may be the true C. prophetarum. 
Cucumis spec. Gueinzius, 397, without female flowers and fruit, seems to be a new 
species. 
VOL. It. 32 
