530 LXIV. CUCURBITACEJE (HOOKER). [Lufa. 



7. LUPPA, Cav. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant, i. 823. 



Monoecious or dioecious. Male fl. : Racemose. Calyx-tube bell- 

 or top-shaped ; lobes 5, spreading. Petals 5, free, spreading-, obovate 

 or obcordate. Filaments 3 or 5, free or connate, inserted on the mouth 

 of the calyx; anthers exserted, free, one 1-celled, two 2-celled ; cells 

 flexuous, bordering- the broad connective. Rudiment of ovary gland- 

 like. Female fl. : Solitary. Staminodes various. Ovary elong-ate, 

 angled or g-rooved ; style columnar ; stigma 3-lobed ; ovules many on 

 3 parietal placentas. Fruit oblong or cylindric, even or ribbed, dry 

 and fibrous inside, 3-celled, opening 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. 



Fruit smooth. 



Flowers 1^—3 in. diameter. Fruit not ridged 1. L. mgyptiaca. 



Flowers 14-3 in. diameter. Fruit with 3 sharp ridges. ... 2. L. acutangula. 



Fruit covered with stout barbed bristles 3. L. echinata. 



1. L. segyptiaca, Miller; Ser. in DC. Prod. iii. 303. Scabrid. 

 Leaves 4-7 in. in diameter, palmately 5-7-angled or lobed, scabrid 

 on both surfaces, distantly irregularly toothed ; stipular bract small, 

 cordate, glandular. — Male fl. : Raceme a span long, many-flowered j 

 bracts small, glandular ; pedicels very short. Calyx-lobes \ in. long, 

 triangular-ovate, green. Corolla 1J-3 in. broad. Stamens 3 or 5. 

 Fruit 5-12 in. long, cylindric or trigonous, with 10 dark lines, but no 

 sharp ridges. Seeds black, rarely whitish, with a narrow wing ; testa 

 smooth. — L. pentandra, Roxb. FL Ind. iii. 712. Wight Ic. t. 499. 

 L. cylindrica, Rcem. ; Naud. in Ann. Sc. Nat. ser. 4, xii. 119 (with sy- 

 nonyms). L. scabra, Schum. et Thonn. PI. Guin. 405. 



Upper Guinea. Niger, Vogell Barter I 



Nile Land. Kazeh, Speke and Grant! 



Lower Guinea. Angola, Dr. Welwitsck! 



Mozamb. Distr. Eovuma river, Meller ! 



Some of the above habitats may refer to the following species, which it is impossible 

 to distinguish in the dry state by flowers and foliage alone. L. mgyptiaca is cultivated 

 throughout the tropics, and the young fruit eaten. Naudin says that its native country 

 is uncertain. 



2. L. acutangula, Roxb. ; Fl. Ind. iii. 713. Very similar to L. 

 agyptiaca, but according to Naudin the leaves are paler green, more 

 orbicular in outline, and the flowers paler yellow. Fruit 6-12 in. long, 

 oblong-clavate, with 10 sharp ridges. Seeds black, wingless ; testa 

 rough.— L.fcetida, Cav. Ic. i. 7, t. 9 and 10. Bot. Mag. t. 1638. 



Tropical Africa, probably abundant, also abundant in Asia'; and cultivated throughout 

 the tropics. 



I have taken the character from Naudin, who observes that this is the Papengaye of 

 the Negroes ; that it presents both bitter and poisonous and edible sweet varieties, and 

 is readily hybridized with L. cegyptiaca. 



