FLORA VITIENSIS. 107 
C. acidus and C. pubescens, and to vindicate the priority of the former name, a name evidently overlooked 
by all writers on Oucurbitacee. A. Gray has attempted to establish two varieties of this species, distin- 
guished by the shape and the glabrous or pubescent state of the surface of the fruit, but the characters 
assigned do not seem to hold good. Parkinson's figure of the fruit exactly corresponds with the shape 
assigned to it by Jacquin, but it is pubescent. In Wight’s plate one of the fruits is ovate, the other 
almost elliptical, The tendrils are always simple. Forster’s Cucumis bicirrha, which A. Gray hesitatingly 
refers to this plant, is identical with Cucurbita pruriens, Sol., as far as can be made out from description. 
VII. Cucurbita, Linn. Gen. n. 1478; Endl. Gen. n. 5138. Flores monoici. Masc.: Calyx 
tubo brevi campanulato 5-fido. Corolla imo calyci adnatim inserta, campanulata, limbi 5-fidi lobis 
zstivatione induplicatis. Stamina 5, ime corolle inserta, 3-adelpha, in columnam conniventia; an- 
there 1-loculares, loculo lineari, connectivi vix incrassati mutici dorso pluribus anfractibus longitu- 
dinalibus adnato. Foem.: Calyx tubo ovato v. obovato, cum ovario connato, limbo. supero 5-fido. 
Corolla maris. Stamina sterilia. Ovarium inferum, 3-5-loculare, placentis juxta septa utrinque 
parietalibus oc-ovulatis. Stylus 3-fidus; stigmata incrassata, 2-loba. Bacca obovato-clavata, glo- 
bosa v. depresso-spheerica, oc-sperma. Semina ovata, compressa, margine tumido cincta. Embryonis 
exalbuminosi cotyledones foliaceæ, radicula brevissima centrifuga.— Herbs annus, cirrhosz; foliis 
alternis petiolatis cordatis integris v. 3-5-lobis; pedunculis axillaribus solitariis 1-floris; floribus 
luteis.— Pepo. et Melopepo, Tourn. Inst. t. 33, 34. 
1. C. Pepo, Linn. Spec. 1435; foliis cordato-obtusis sub-5-lobis dentieulatis; calycibus in 
colum infra limbum desinentibus; baccis subrotundis oblongisve levibus.—Ser. in DC. Prodr. 
vol. ii. p. 317. * Pumpkin” of the English colonists.—Cultivated in Viti as in the Hawaiian and 
other Polynesian islands, but known to be introduced by Europeans. According to Solander (Prim. 
Fl. Ins. Pacif.), it was brought to Tahiti in 1767 by Captain Wallis. 
The fruit is an excellent sea-stock, and much valued by whaling-ships as such. In the Voyage of 
H.M.S. Herald to the Arctic regions, we had it on board for months, and found it to keep sound long after 
the yams and other tropical vegetables had become rotten.* ; 
I have specimens of a Cucurbitacea, collected by Mr. Williams in Viti, but they are without 
flowers. Leaves 5-lobed, glabrous, lobes pinnatifid or dentated, tendrils simple. At the base the 
leaves form an acute angle, otherwise they look like some forms of Momordica Charantia. 
* Cucurbita maxima, Duch. in Lam. Diet. vol. ii. p. 151; DC. Prodr. vol. iii. p. 316, though culti- 
vated in the Sandwich Islands (Seemann!) from time immemorial, has not yet reached Viti. The shells of 
this gourd are converted, by the Sandwich Islanders, into vessels (ipu), out of which they eat their “ poè,” 
i.e. fermented corms of Colocasia antiquorum, var. esculenta, as stated in my Narrative of the Voy. of 
H.M.S. Herald, vol. ii. p. 86. : 
Another species is peculiar to the Society Islands, viz. Cucurbita pruriens, Sol. ms. in Forst. Prodr. n* 
554, sine descrip., et in Parkins. Drawings of Tahit. Plants, t. 109 (ined.) ; Seem. Journ. of Bot. vol. ii. p. 
50. Pilis rigidiusculis pruritum momentaneum excitantibus hispida, caule angulato; foliis profunde cor- 
datis sublobato-5-angulatis sinuato-dentatis; cirrhis 2-fidis; pedunculis axillaribus solitariis; ealycis laciniis 
oblongo-lanceolatis reflexis; fructibus globosis, junioribus farinosis pilosis. Cucumis bicirrha, Forst. mss. 
in Guill. Zeph. Tait. p. 56.—Society Islands (Banks and Solander! in Mus. Brit.). -— 
* Annua. Caules longissimi, angulati, hispidi. Folia alterna, petiolata, magna, latiora (sæpe spithamam 
lata) quam longiora, profunde cordata, sinubus latis subrotundatis sublobato-angulata, angulis acutis, den- 
ticulata, denticulis minutis teretiusculis, molliuscule, pilosa, pilis supra longioribus adspersis, 5-nervia, 
venosa. Glandule nulle.  Petioli plerumque foliis longiores, hispidissimi. — Cirri 2-fidi, longi, inferne 
hispidi Pedunculi axillares, 1-flori, hispidissimi, masculi plerumque petiolis longiores, famine: ex eadem 
axilla, breves uneiales, raro sesquiunciales. Flores magni, lutei. Calyx hirsutus, laciniis oblongo-lanceo- 
latis semiuncialibus reflexis. Filamenta 3. Anthere valde contortuplicate. Germen oblongum, hirsutis- 
simum. Pomum globosum, cortice duro sublignoso tectum, farina alba facile detergenda dense irroratum, 
pilisque rigidiuseulis pallidis sesquilinearibus undique adspersum, diametro 2- vel raro 3-unciali, dum 
penitus maturum Pomum leve evadit absque farina pilisve. Semina magnitudine seminum Cucumeris sative, 
2 
