270 



REVISION OF THE GENERA 



mentioned in the original description of that plant by H.B.K.,— I sug- 

 gested (Bot. of H.M.S. Herald, p. 183) might belong to C. cucurhitina, 

 Linn., is, according to the description in H. B. et K., Nov. Gen. et Sp., 

 and an authentic specimen in tlie Eoyal herbarium at Berlin (full par- 

 ticulars of which were kindly transmitted to me by my friend Mr. T'. 

 Kornicke), also identical with C. Cujete, Linn. 



The second Crescentia I consider a good species is 0. cucurhitina, 

 Linn., which Linnaeus published in his ' Mantissa,' and which he pro- 

 bably never saw, as there is no specimen of it in his own herbarium ; 

 he described it, most likely, as he has done in several other instances, 

 from Plumier's figures. This species is distinguished by its simple 

 alternate leaves, and the shell of its fruit, which is so fragile that it 

 may be crushed in the hand like an egg. C. latlfolia. Lam, has al- 

 ways, and with justice, been looked upon as a synonym of this species ; 

 and to this I have added C. ohovata, Benth., C. letUfera, Tussac, C. 

 toxicaria, Tussac, and 0. j}alustris, Forsyth Herb., as I cannot find 

 any distinction between them and C. cucurbittna, Linn. The descrip- 

 tion of a ovata in Burmann's 'Flora Tndica,' p. 133, short as it is 

 (C. folus ovatis integerrimis, apice acuminatis ; folia in hac specie per- 

 fecte ovata nee attenuata, ut in C. Cujete, L.), agrees perfectly well 

 with this, and no other species, so that I have little hesitation in con- 

 sidering that also identical with C. cucurhitina, Linn. The third species 

 of Crescentia, holding good, is C. macropliylla. Seem., allied to, but quite 

 distinct from, the preceding. 



The fourth Crescentia, the existence of which I am ready to acknow- 

 ledge, IS C. alata, H.B.K. That species is best known by having at 

 every axil three leaves, the central one of which is trifoKolated, and 

 by its hard-shelled fruit. As a synonym of it, I regard C. trifolia, 

 Blanco ; as the description of the latter in the ' Flora de Filipinas' 

 agrees word for word with C. alata, H.B.K., and as its Mexican origin 

 has been well traced by Blanco, the author of that Flora, who says, 



" Tal vez habran venido de America ; . . . llaman en Nueva Espafla 

 Tecomate." 



These are the only four species of Crescentia I consider as well esta- 

 blished, a aculeata, H.B.K., is but a synonym of Parmentiera edulis, 

 DC. ; and C. edulis, Desv., is merely the simple-leaved form of the same 

 plant. It may indeed appear strange that De CandoUe, so acute an 

 observer, should have enumerated in his « Prodromus' one and the 



