THE CUCUMBER AND GOURD FAMILY 



11 



Melon {Citrnlliis vulgaris; Kan. Baccangayi, Kallaiigacli; Mdl. 

 Vattakka; Tarn. Vattakku); the Bottle Gourd {Lagenaria vulgaris; 

 Kan. Kalii sore; ilia?. Kaippacuram; Tarn. Sural); the Luffa 

 (Luffa acutaugula; Kan. Rlre; ilia?. Piccakain; Tarn. Virku); the 

 Snake Gourd {Trichosanthesangtiina; ^a>^. Patla; ilia?. Patolam ; 

 Tarn. Pudol) ; the Momordica {Momordka cliarantia; Kan. 

 Hagala; ilia?. Paval; Tam. Pagal) ; the Cephalandra (Cepha- 

 landra indica; Kan. Tonde; Mai. Tondi; Tam. Kovai); the 

 Common Melon {Cucumis melo; Kan. Kekkarike balli, Ibbudlu). 



AlHed to the Cucumber Family is the Passion Flower Family 

 (Passiflorece), likewise climbers with tendrils. Some of them, e. g., 

 Passiflora foetida^ grow wild, others, e. g., Passiflora palmata, are 

 cultivated in gardens for the sake of their peculiar flowers which have 

 a very pretty corona of filiform appendages arising from the tube of 

 the calyx. The name 'Passion flower' was due to resemblances, 

 which the mystical Fathers of the Church discovered more readily 

 than we can. The five anthers represented the five wounds of our 

 Saviour, the triple style the nails, the stalk of the ovary the main pillar 

 of the cross, and the thread-like corona, the glory round His head >. 

 The Papaw Tree (Carica papaya), Plate No. 652, a native 

 of America, is 

 another plant be- 

 longing to this 

 family. The flow- 

 ers are, like those 

 of the Gourds, uni- 

 sexual. The two 

 kinds of flowers, 

 however, do not, 

 as a rule, grow on 

 the same plant, 

 but on different 

 plants. They are 

 therefore called 

 dioecious.'^' The 

 milky sap of the tree has the peculiar property of making raw 

 meat tender by partly digesting it. 



Staminate and Pistillate flowers of the Papaw tree. 



Below : two fruits, one opened by a cross-cut 



showing- the seeds. 



* From Greek cli, two, and oikos, a house. 



