Luffa. — Cucumis, 935 . 
by a terminal lid which bears the persistent style. Seeds numerous, 
oblong, compressed. — Annual, prostrate or scandent herbs. Leaves 
5—7-lobed, petiole eglandular. Tendrils simple or 2-multifid. Flowers 
large, yellow or white; male jointed on to the pedicels. Fruit often 
large, dry, with a thin epicarp. 
A small genus in the Tropical and subtropical regions. 
1299. Luffa cylindrica (L.) Roem. Syst. Plant. (1829), p. 312. 
— Aschers.-Schweinf. Ill. Flor. d’Hg. p.77. — Luffa aegyptiaca 
Miller Gard. Dict., ed. VIII no.8. — DC. Prodrom. III, p. 303. — 
Luffa pentandra Roxb. Flor. Ind. IV, p.712. — Wight Icon. Plant. Or., 
tab. 499. — Naud. in Ann. Scienc. Natur., Ser. [V Vol. XII p. 119. 
— Scabrid. Leaves 8—14 cm in diameter, palmately 5—7-angled 
or lobed, scabrid on both surfaces, distantly irregularly toothed; 
stipular bract small, cordate, glandular. — Male flower: Raceme a 
span long, many-flowered; bracts small, glandular; pedicels very short. 
Calyx-lobes 1 cm long, triangular-ovate, green. Corolla 2"/,—6 em 
broad. Stamens 3 or 5. Fruit 10—22 cm long, cylindric or trigo- 
nous, with 10 dark lines, but no sharp ridges. Seeds black, rarely 
whitish, with a narrow wing; testa smooth. — Flow. March to April. 
M. ma. N.d. N.f. N.v. Often cultivated, rarely naturalized. 
Local name: lub. 
Also known from Tropical Africa. 
532. (3.) Cucumis L. 
Monoecious, rarely dioecious. Male flower: Fascicled or soli- 
tary. Calyx-tube short; lobes subulate. Corolla campanulate, deeply 
5-lobed or -parted, lobes acute. Filaments short, free, inserted 
within the calyx-tube; anthers oblong, one 1-celled, two 2-celled; 
cells flexuous or conduplicate, rarely straight or curved, connective 
produced and papillose at the apex. Rudiment of ovary glandular. 
Female flower: Solitary. Staminodes 0 or subulate or reduced to 
glands. Ovary ovoid or globose; style short, stigmas 3, sessile, 
2-lobed, obtuse; ovules many, on 3 or 5 placentas. Fruit sub- 
globose, cylindric, terete or 3-gonous, smooth warted or spiny, some- 
times 3-valved. Seeds many, oblong, compressed. — Annual or 
perennial-rooted, prostrate or climbing, hispid or scabrid herbs. 
Leaves entire lobed palmate or pedate. Tendrils simple, sometimes 
reduced to spines. Flowers yellow, usually small. 
An abundant tropical African genus, the species of which are very 
variable indeed and difficult of identification. 
