LIX. CUCURBITACER. 127 
in the male. Staminodia 3. Style 1, without any epigynous 
disk ; stigma thick, lobed. Fruit a small berry with a tough 
coat, subglobose, apiculate, 3-celled, 6-12-seeded. Seed tumid. 
—Fl. Cap.ii. p. 498. 
A tuberous-rooted perennial. The flowers are borne on very short, 
radical branches close to the ground. ‘hey are pale yellow, striped with 
green; the males numerous, females few. When the little fruit is almost 
ripe, the root sends out long, twining, leafy stems, bearing small, simple 
tendrils. Leaves pedatifid, with linear lobes; the middle lobe very long. 
—P. Capense, Sond., grows beyond the Hastern frontier. 
12. MUKTIA, Arn. 
Flowers moneecious.—Male: Calyx campanulate, 5-toothed. 
Corolla 5-parted; lobes obtuse. Stamens 3, inserted in the 
tube of the calyx; filaments free; two anthers 2-celled, the 
other 1-celled; cells linear, straight, cohering ; connective 
produced into a conical point—Female: Calyx and corolla as 
in male. Ovary ovoid, setulose, with 2-3 placentas; style 
short, insertedin an annular, fleshy, epigynous disk. Stami- 
nodia 0. Fruit a small, smooth or bristly, globose, few-seeded 
berry. Seeds oblong-oval, subcompressed, surrounded by a 
broad or narrow rim, scrobiculate.-—7. Cap. 1. p. 488. 
M. scabrella, Arn., a common annual plant of tropical Asia, occurs near 
Natal. Stem climbing, with simple tendrils, and angled or lobed hairy 
leaves. Flowers small, yellow; the males tufted, females solitary or ag- 
sregated. 
TRIBE 2. ZANONIER. 
13. GERRARDANTHUS, Harv. 
Flowers dicecious?—Male: Calyx small, rotate, 5-lobed. 
Corolla rotate, 5-parted to the base; lobes linear-oblong, 
fleshy, 2 rather larger than the others. Stamens 4, and 1 
sterile; filaments separate ; anthers 1-celled, linear, cohering 
in pairs—Female: Calyx and corolla as in the male. Ovary 
long, tapering at base, 3-cornered, with thick placentas and 
several pendulous ovules on each placenta. Fruit a long, 
funnel-shaped, nearly dry, at length membranous gourd, 3- 
valved at top. Seeds many, flat, with a crustaceous testa, and 
long membranous wing. 
G. megarhiza, Dene. and Harv., the only species, grows in the Natal 
colony. It has a large, placentiform, tuberous root, lying on the surface of 
the soil, 3-4 feet diameter, 1-2 feet thick, slightly acrid and bitter, and 
used, as Mr. Gerrard informs me, “ by the Kaffirs for various medicinal 
purposes ; among others, they give it to heifers, after the first calf, to in- 
crease the quantity of milk; but it appears to deteriorate the quality, for, 
it is said, that cows give no butter during the time they are taking the root.” 
Stem woody, tuberculated, very long, rising to the tops of the highest trees, 
the branches hanging down in graceful, pendulous wreaths. All parts of 
