5;38 T.X1I. clx'Ukbit.vce.t:. 



short or long. Ovary ovoid or ellipsoid, 3-plaoentiferous ; ovules oo , 

 horizontal ; style slender ; stigmas 3, bifid. Fruit baccate, ovoid or 

 ellipsoid, iudeliiscent. Seeds many, ovoid, compressed, margined ; testa 

 smooth or scrobiculate. — Distkib. Tropical Asia, Tropical and South 

 Africa ; species 13. 



The genus was established as Coccinia by Wight & Arnott in 1834, 

 two years prior to the publication of the genus as Cej)halandm by 

 Schrader. 



1. Coccinia indica, Wi<jht 4' ^'■"- Prodr. (1834) p. 347. 

 Perennial, scaudent or pros'atc, much branched; root thick; stems 

 grooved, slender, glabrous. Tendrils slender, striate, simple. Leaves 

 2-4 in. long and broad, bright-green above, paler beneath, studded and 

 sometimes rough with papiihe, ])almately 5-iierved from a cordate base, 

 often with circular ghiiids between the nerves, obtusely 5-angled or 

 sometimes deeply 5-lobed, the lobes broarl, obtuse or acute, apiciilate, 

 more or less sinuate-toothed ; petioles |-1| in. long. Male flowers : 

 Peduncles 1-flowered, |-1| in. long, subfiliform. Calyx-tube glabrous, 

 broadly campauulate, -^-i in. long: teeth -^^ in. long, linear. Corolla 

 1 iu. long, veined, pubescent inside, glabrous outside ; segments y^^r- y\in. 

 long, triangular, acute. Staminal column glabrous ; capitulum of 

 anthers subglobose. Female flowers : Peduncles |-1 in. long. 

 Staminodes 3, subulate, g in. long. Ovary fusiform, glabrous, slightly 

 ribbed. Fruit fusiform-ellipsoid, slightly beaked, 1-2 by g-l in., 

 marked when immature with white streaks, bright scarlet when f\dly 

 ripe. Seeds somewhat obovoid, rounded at the apex, slightly papillose, 

 much compressed, yellowish-grey. Grab. Cat. p. 78 ; Dalz. & Gibs, 

 p. 103; Hook. Icon. PL v. 2 (1837) t. 138 ; Wight, 111. t. 105* (bis). 

 Cer)7i(dandra indica, Naud. in Ann. Sci. Nat. ser. 5, v. 5 (1866) p. 16; 

 C. B. Clarke, in Hook. f. Fl. 13. I. v. 2, p. 021 ; Trim. Fl. Ceyl. v. 2, 

 p. 247; AVoodr. in Journ. Bomb. Nat. v. 11 (1898) p. 640; Watt, Diet. 

 Econ. Prod. v. 2, p. 252. Bryonia cordifolia, Linn. Sp. PL (1753) 

 p. 1012. Coccinia cordifolia, Cogniaux, in DC. Monogr. Phan. v. 3 

 (1881) p. 529. — Flowers : Aug.-Sept. Veen. Tondli. 



Deccan ; Woodrow. S. M. Country : Badami, Cooke ! ; Belgaum, Eitchie, 306 ! 

 GuJAKAT : Eajkot, Woodrow. Sind : Mulir, near Karachi, Bhola Puran ! — Distiub. 

 Throughout India; Ceylon, Malaya, Tropical Africa. 



8. MELOTHRIA, Linn. 



Slender scandent or prostrate herbs, annual or with a perennial root, 

 monoecious or very rarely dioecious. Tendrils simple, rarely bifid. 

 Leaves usually membranous, entire or more or less lobed. Flowers 

 small, yellow or white. Male flowers racemose or corymbose, less 

 commonly fascicled or solitary. Calyx campanulate, 5-toothed. Corolla 

 deeply 5-partite ; segments entire. Stamens 3, inserted on the tube 

 (rarely at the base) of the calyx ; filaments free ; anthers free or rarely 

 slightly cohering, one 1-celled, the others 2-celled or sometimes all 

 2-celled, the cells straight, rarely curved, the connective sometimes 

 produced. Eudimentary ovary globose or annular, rarely 3-lobed. 

 Female flowers solitary, fascicled, or corvmbose. Calyx and corolla as 

 iu the male. Staminodes 3 or 0. Ovary ovoid, globose or fusiform, 

 3-p]acontiferous, constricted beneath the flower ; ovules usually 



