618 
Planis of the Punjab, 
CLIMBING PLANTS witH ALTERNATE ExstTipULATE LoBED LEAVEs3. 
Momordica 
Charantia, 
Karela. 
CUCURBITACES. 
Bae. OL: 
The Plains to 
3,000 ft. 
Cultivated. 
Momordica 
balsamina, 
CUCURBITACES. 
eB. f.41.-617. 
The Plains to 
8,000 ft. 
Cultivated. 
Momordica dioica, 
CuUCURBITACES. 
Bey 1g Oke 
The Plains to 
5,000 ft. 
PETALS UNITED. 
the -male, style thick, with 3 zigzag stigmas ; fruit 12-18 
in. long, oblong, fleshy, with a waxy bloom, seeds many, 
oblong, flattened. ‘The fruit is sometimes eaten as a vege- 
table or cut into cubes crystalised and eaten as a sweet- 
meat. 
annual, young parts velvety, tendrils undivided ; 
leaves 1-3 in. diam., circular, kidney-shaped, deeply cut 
into 5-7 narrow almost pinnatifid lobes, thin, lobes toothed 
with a short abrupt point on a straight edge narrowed to the 
base, stalks 1-3 in. ; flowers 1 in. across, yellow, male and 
female on the same plant, male flowers solitary on slender 
stalks 2-4 in. long with a circular or kidney-shaped entire 
bract at or below the middle, calyx tube short, bell-shaped, 
lobes 5, ovate, short-pointed, corolla 5-lobed nearly to the 
base, lobes 3-$ in., stamens 38, short, anthers at length 
free, female flowers solitary on stalks equal in length to 
the male one, with the bract near the base, style long, 
stigmas 8; fruit 1-5 in. long, orange yellow, ovoid+ narrow- 
ing to both ends, ribbed lengthways with rows of 
triangular tubercles, seeds 4 in., flattened, corrugate, on 
the margin, immersed in red pulp. The fruit is cooked 
and eaten as a vegetable, it is somewhat bitter. 
like the last species, but leaves 3-5-lobed, lobes lobu- 
late, bract on the male flower stalk near the top, toothed, 
not entire, variegated, no bract on female flower stalk, 
corolla lobes dark brown at the base, fruit a redder orange, 
seeds nearly smooth. The fruit is eaten as a vegetable, 
or as a pickle when young, 
like the last species, but perennial, roots tuberous, 
male andfemale flowers on different plants, leaves not 
so deeply lobed, male flower stalk 2-6 in., bracts near the 
top, cowl like, embracing the flower, calyx lobes oblong 
with a narrow tip, corolla lobes 1 in., stamens 2-anthered, 
2-fid half way down, female flower stalk equal to the male, 
bract small, below the middle of the stalk, fruit shortly 
beaked, densely clothed with soft spies. The fruit when 
young is cooked in curries, the tuberous root is also cooked 
as a vegetable, 
