CUCURBITACEAE 455 
4. P. tomentosa Blume. Cantutay (Tag.). 
A scandent, herbaceous, more or less pubescent or quite glabrous, slender 
vine, when crushed with a distinct odor of carbon bisulphide. Leaves ovate 
to oblong-ovate, sharply acuminate, base rounded or slightly cordate, 6 to 
10 cm long, 3.5 to 5.5 em wide. Inflorescence of axillary, lax, peduncled, 
few-flowered cymes, forming a leafy panicle. Flowers sessile. Calyx small, 
5-toothed. Corolla 1 to 1.3 em long, somewhat cylindric, pale-purple to 
nearly white outside, rather deep-purple and villous within, the limb 
somewhat spreading, with 5 undulate lobes. Fruit subglobose, about 5 
mm in diameter. (FI. Filip. pl. 54, P. foetida.) 
Rather common in thickets, etc., fl. July—Oct.;, throughout the Philip- 
pines. India to China, Japan, and Malaya. 
17. SPERMACOCE Linnaeus 
Spreading or erect, branched herbs, the branches usually 4-angled. 
Leaves opposite, the stipules connate with the petioles into a broad bristly 
tube. Flowers small, axillary, solitary or fascicled. Calyx-tube with 2 
to 4, rarely 5 teeth, often with interposed teeth or bristles. Corolla 
tubular, funnel- or salver-shaped, the lobes 4, valvate. Stamens 4, inserted 
on the throat or tube of the corolla. Ovary 2-celled; style filiform; ovules 
1 in each cell. Fruit of 2 crustaceous or coriaceous mericarps which 
dehisce variously. (Greek “seed” and “point,” in allusion to the fruits 
crowned by the calyx-teeth.) 
Species about 150 in most tropical and subtropical countries, 3 in the 
Philippines. 
Stems and leaves hispid; corolla about 5 mm long...............-........ 1. S. hispida 
Stems and leaves glabrous; corolla less than 2 mm long........ 2. S. ocymoides 
1. S. hispida L. 
A procumbent, branched, scabrid or hispid herb, the branches rather 
stout, often ascending, 4-angled, greenish or purplish, 10 to 40 cm long. 
Leaves obovate, oblong, or elliptic, acute or obtuse, shortly petioled, 1 to 3 
em long, rather thick, scabrid; stipules bristly. Flowers axillary, fas- 
cicled, 1 to 6 in each axil. Calyx green, slightly hispid, the lobes narrowly 
oblong, 1.5 to 2 mm long. Corolla pale-blue or nearly white, about 5 
mm long. Capsules oblong-ovoid, hispid or hirsute, about 5 mm long. 
In open dry grass lands and waste places, especially near the sea, fl. 
July—Feb.; widely distributed in the Philippines. India to China and 
Malaya. 
2. S. ocymoides Burm. 
A slender decumbent or ascending herb, branched from the base, 20 
to 40 em high, glabrous or nearly so, the stems 4-angled. Leaves thin, 
not scabrid, elliptic to oblong, acute, 1.5 to 2.5 cm long; the stipules pec- 
tinate. Flowers numerous, small, axillary, crowded. Calyx green, 1.5 
mm long. Corolla white, about 1.2 mm long, cleft nearly to the base. 
Capsules about 2 mm long, somewhat hairy. 
In dry thickets, Guadalupe, near Fort McKinley, etc., fl. Sept.—Jan. 
Of local occurrence in the Philippines. Tropical Asia, Africa, and Malaya. 
132. CUCURBITACEAE (GouRD or CALABAZA FAMILY.) 
Annual or perennial tendril-bearing vines with alternate, simple, lobed 
or divided, usually cordate leaves. Flowers regular, moneocious or dio- 
