CUCURBITACE^:. 



Stem angular, very long, running over the highest trees, covered with 

 gray scabrous somewhat corky bark ; the young green parts smooth. 

 Tendrils 3-cleft. Leaves petioled, generally palmate, though some- 

 times only from 3- to 5-lobed ; divisions acute, slightly serrate, from 3- 

 to 5-nerved, smooth, having frequently several round, glandular, hollow 

 spots on the under side. Petioles channelled. Stipules single, small, 

 axillary. Male flowers racemed, large, white, most beautifully fringed 

 with long, white, ramous filaments. Racemes axillary, longer than the 

 leaves. Bracts solitary, 1-flowered, oval, fringed, covered on the out- 

 side with dark green glandular spots. Female flowers generally 

 axillary, peduncled, though sometimes racemose also. Fruit globular, 

 smooth, of the size of a small orange, when ripe of a bright deep red, 

 replete with a dirty looking, dark greenish, soft pulp, in which the 

 seeds nestle. Fruit reckoned poisonous. Roxb. Pounded small and 

 intimately blended with warm cocoa nut oil, it is considered a valuable 

 application in India for cleansing and healing the offensive sores that 

 sometimes form inside the ears. It is also supposed to be a useful 

 remedy poured up the nostrils, in cases of ozaena. Ainslie. 



184. T. amara Linn. sp. pi. 1432. DC. prodr. iii. 315. 

 Plumier descr. pi. amer. t. 100. St. Domingo. 



Stem taper, smooth. Tendrils simple. Leaves cordate, somewhat 

 triangular, sinuated, rough with dots, stalked. Female flowers solitary, 

 with peduncles longer than the leaves. Calyx long, tubular, with 

 lanceolate acute segments. Petals ovate, roundish, fringed. Fruit 

 obovate-oblong, 9-celled, green, with longitudinal white lines; flesh 

 white, bitter. Seeds bitter and astringent; sometimes emetic. Martius. 



185. T. villosa Blum bydr. 934. DC. prodr. iii. 314. 

 Java. 



Leaves cordate, tricuspidate, obsoletely toothletted, villous. Pedun- 

 cles 1 -flowered. Gourds roundish, with white streaks. Fruit acts 

 like Colocynth. N. and E. 



186. T. cordata Roxb.fi. ind. iii. 703. Boomee-Koomura of 

 the Hindoos near the mouth of the river Megna, where the plant 

 grows wild. 



Root tuberous, perennial, growing to the size of a man's head. 

 Stems herbaceous, climbing to the length of some fathoms, 5-sided, 

 villous, or even somewhat scabrous when old. Tendrils opposite, 

 3-cleft. Leaves alternate, petioled, cordate and cordate-lobate, finely 

 dentate, villous on both sides, about 6 inches each way. Petioles 

 channelled, a little hairy, scarcely half the length of the leaves. 

 Male raceme, axillary, solitary, as long , the leaves. Bracts alter- 

 nate, sessile, cuneate, oblong, acute, serrulate, 1-flowered. Flowers 

 large, white, the fringe of the segments coarser than in the other species. 

 Female flowers axillary, solitary, short-peduncled. Gourd spherical, 

 of the size of an orange, and of nearly the same colour, only redder, 

 and, as in T. palmata, which it is much like, the cells and partitions are 

 very obscure. Seeds numerous, immersed in soft, gelatinous, green 

 pulp. Root used by the natives of India as a substitute for Calumba 

 root. 



187. T. cucumerina Linn. sp. pi. 1432. Blum Bydr. 

 934. Roxb.fi. ind. iii. 702. DC. prodr. iii. 315. Pada valam 

 Rheede. viii. t. 15 Hedges in Bengal. 



