LuffcL. MONOECIA SYNGENESIA. 713 



axillary, cordate, glandular as in L. acutangula. Male 

 FLOWERS racemed, as in L. acutangula, but in this species 

 the lowermost flower of the raceme is often female. Bractes 

 as in L. acutangula. Filaments five, distinct. Anthers sub- 

 equal, contorted, worm-like. Female flowers solitary, 

 peduncled, axillary or the lowermost on the raceme. Calyx 

 five-leaved, glandular. Nectary five-lobed, glands with 

 woolly insertions. Stigma four-lobed. Fruit linear, smooth, 

 striated, with ten deeper coloured streaks, but no elevations, 

 from one to three feet long, and about three inches in diame- 

 ter ; internal structure as in the former. Seeds gray, with ele- 

 vated dots; margin sharp, waved. 



The unripe fruit is eaten by the natives in their curries, 

 like that of the former species, but is not so much esteemed. 

 The seeds are generally sown by the root of a tree, on the 

 huts of the natives, over which the plants run. 



2. L. acutangula. Roxb. 



Stems slender and smooth. Leaves five-angled, dentate, 

 pretty smooth. Fruit short, clubbed, with ten sharp ridges. 

 Seeds pitted. 



Cucumis acutangulus. Willd. iv. 612. 



Picinna. Rheed. Mai. viii. t. 7. 



Hind. T?/rai. 



Beng. Jhinga. 



Luffa/oeZirfa. Willd. viii. 380. 



Ghorla-beera, or beerkay of the Telingas, for it is known 

 equally well by either name in that country. It is very gene- 

 rally cultivated by the natives during the wet and cold sea- 

 sons. 1 have never found it wild. 



Stems several, slender, running to a great extent but with 

 fewer branches than any other species that I know, pretty 

 smooth, five-sided. Tendrils three-cleft. Leaves as in Cu- 

 cumis sativus, but less rough. Stipules axillary, solitary, 

 cordate, with glandular marks on one side. Male flowers 

 pretty large, yellow, on long, erect, axillary racemes, the pe- 

 vol. in. *^ 



