,528 LXII. CUCUBBITA0E*3. 



2. MOMORDICA, Linn. 



Climbing annual or perennial herbs. Leaves entire, lobed or pedately 

 3-7-foliolate. Tendrils simple or bifid. flowers yellow or white, 

 monoecious or dioecious. Male tlowers corymbose or racemose. 

 Calyx-tube short, campanulate, closed at the bottom with 2-3 incurved 

 oblong scales ; lobes 5. Corolla usually 5-partite to the base or nearly 

 so, rotate or broadly campanulate ; segments obovate, costate. Stamens 

 3 (2 in M. Ci/mbalana% inserted on the mouth of the calyx-tube ; 

 filaments short, free ; anthers at first cohering, at length free, one 

 1-celled, the others 2-celled, the cells flexuose (rarely short and straight 

 or curved), connecti\e not produced at the apex. Rudimentary ovary 

 or glanduliform. Female elowers solitary. Calyx and corolla as 

 in the male. Eudimentary stamens 0, or 3 glands surrounding the base 

 of the style. Ovary oblong or fusiform, 3-placeutiferous ; ovules go , 

 horizontal ; styles slender ; stigmas 3. Fruit oblong, fusiform, or 

 cylindric, baccate, iudehisceut or 3-valvate, few or many-seeded. Seeds 

 tumid or flattened, smooth or variously sculptured. — Disxrib. Chiefly 

 African, a few scattered through the tropics of both hemispheres ; 

 species 25. 



Male peduncles 1-flowered. 

 Flowers monoecious. 



Bracts of male flowers about the middle or below the 



middle of the peduncle 1 . M. Charantia. 



Bracts of male flowers at the apex of the peduncle ... 2. M. Balsamina. 

 Flowers dioecious. 



Petioles without glands. 



Calyx-lobes linear-lanceolate, acute 3. M. dioiea. 



Calyx-lobes ovate-oblong, obtuse 4. M. sidiangidafa. 



Petioles glandular .5. M. cochinchincnsis. 



Male flowers in racemes 6. M. Cymhalarin. 



1. Momordica Charantia, Linn. Sp. PI. (1753) p. 1009. 

 Annual ; stem 3-0 ft. long, much branched, angled and grooved, more 

 or less pubescent or hairy ; young parts hairy or villous. Tendrils 

 simple, slender, elongate, pubescent. Leaves almost orbicular in outline, 

 2-5 in. in diam., pubescent or subglabrous on both sides, cordate at the 

 base, deeply divided into 5-7 lobes, the lobes acute or subacute, apicu- 

 late, coarsely spinous-dentate, constricted at the base, the sinus between 

 them narrow, rounded ; petioles 1-2 in. long, channelled, pubescent. 

 Flowers monoecious. Male flowers solitary ; peduncles 2-4 in. long, 

 glabrous or pubescent, furnished with, a large reniform or orbicular 

 bract at or below the middle. Calyx g-| in. long, pubescent ; lobes 

 ■i— i in. long, elliptic, subacute. Corolla somewhat irregular, lemon- 

 yellow ; segments obtuse or emarginate, g-| in. long, veined. Female 

 FLOWERS : Peduncles 2-4 in. long, slender, bmcteate usually at or near 

 the base. Staminodes 3, glanduliform. Ovary fusiform, muricate ; 

 stigmas 3, bifid. Fruit bright orange-colored, 2-6 in. long, pendulous, 

 fusiform, usually pointed or beaked, ribbed, and bearing numerous 

 triangular tubercles giving it the appearance of a crocodile's back 

 (Gh-aham), 3-valved at the apex when mature. Seeds g-| in. long, 

 compressed, corrugate on the margin, sculptured on both faces. Fl. B. I. 

 v. 2, p. 616 ; Grab. Cat. p. 78 ; Dalz. & Gibs. p. 102; Trim. Fl. Ceyl. 



