546 lxiv. cucurbitaceje (hooker). [Cucumis. 



fl. : Peduncles short, stout, densely hispid with spreading brown hairs. 

 Fruit small, |-f in., broadly ovoid, both aculeate and densely clothed 

 with acicular brown bristles. Seeds many, white, ovate, contracted 

 above the truncate base, \ in. long-, with a broad thickened border and 

 depressed disk. 



Nile Land- Abyssinia in Tigre, Schimper, 1457 (1863-8) ! A very distinct 

 species. 



9. C. Melo, Linn. Sp. PL 1436. Pale green. Stems short, slender, 

 angular, scabrid with short, straight and curved prickles. Leaves |-1 in. 

 long, coriaceous, reniform-cordate or ovate, palmately 3-5-lobed, lobes 

 rounded, obtuse, irregularly toothed and waved, scabrid on both sur- 

 faces with white papillae; Male fl. : Small. Anthers ciliate, connective 

 produced into a serrate oblong appendage. Female fl. : Peduncle short. 

 Ovary clothed with silky appressed hairs. Fruit globose, sweet, edible, 

 | in. diameter, softly hairy, greenish-yellow. Seeds I in. long, elliptic- 

 obloug, smooth, pale brown, without thickened margins or depressed 

 disk. 1 C. madraspatanus, Roxb. Fl. Ind. iii. 723 (not of Linn.) ? C. 

 arenarius, Schum. et Thonn. PI. Guin. 427. 



Upper Guinea. Borgu, on the Niger, on sandy places, Barter! 



Nile la and. Abyssinia, Roth! ^Ethiopia, Kotschy ! Nubia, Petherich ! 



This is undoubtedly one of the forms of small wild melon indicated by Naudin, and 

 very close to the C. madraspatanvs, Roxb., pubescens, Willd., and turbinatus, Roxb., 

 of India, and is one of ihe natural races included by Naudin in his 7th tribe of C. Melo 

 Chito. Barter describes the fruit as eaten, and called Boange by the Nupe people, and 

 of the flavour of a " green flesh melon." It is very probable that some of the plants in- 

 cluded under C. dipsaceus may also be referable to C. Melo, but without fruit it is im- 

 possible to determine. 



10. C. sag it tat us, Wawr. et Peyr., Sert. Benguel. 27. Annual 1 

 Scabrid and white with minute close-set small prickles. Stem very 

 slender, much branched, angular, angles white. Leaves small, 1 in. 

 long, sagittate, sinuate-toothed, very scabrid on both surfaces, some- 

 times almost silky with stiff white appressed hairs, basal sinus rather 

 acute, lobes spreading, lobulate or entire; petioles J-f in., tendrils 

 very* slender. Male fl. : Small ; peduncles very short. Calyx hispid. 

 ADthers short, ciliate.; connective produced into a rather long flat 

 appendage, glandular at the tip. Female fl. : Small, almost sessile. 

 Ovary densely clothed with soft straight snow-white hairs. Fruit 

 short, peduncled; unripe globose, green, silky; ripe 2 in. long, green 

 with yellow stripes, quite smooth and glabrous. 



Lower Guinea. Benguela, Wawra ! Mossamedes, sandy maritime shores of the 

 Bei o river, Dr. Welwitsch ! 



Apparently a well-marked species, of which a fragment only of the fruit is preserved. 

 Welwitsch describes it as variable in the form and hairiness of the leaves. 



11. C. hirsutus, Sond. in Fl. Cap. ii. 497. Perennial; dioecious; 

 dark greenish-brown when dry, hirsute all over, old specimens more 

 scabrid. Root tuberous (Welrv.). Stem rather stiff, angular, and peti- 

 oles and peduncles hispid with long spreading slender stiff hairs. 



