LIX. CUCURBITACE^. 127 



in the male. Staminodia 3. Style 1, without any epigynous 

 disk ; stigma thick, lobed. Fruit a small berry with a tough 

 coat, subglobose, apiculate, 3-ceUed, G-12-seeded. Seed tumid. 

 —Fl. Gap. lip. 498. 



A tuberous-rooted perennial. The flowers are borne on very short, 

 radical branches close to the ground. They are pale yellow, striped with 

 green ; the males numerous, females few. When the little fruit is almost 

 ripe, the root sends out long, twining, leafy stems, bearing small, simple 

 tendrils. Leaves pedatifid, with linear lobes ; the middle lobe very long. 

 — P. Capense^ Sond., grows beyond the Eastern frontier. 



12. MUKIA, Arn. 



Flowers monoecious. — Male : Calyx campanulate, 5-toothed. 

 Corolla 5-parted ; lobes obtuse. Stamens 3, inserted in the 

 tube of the calyx ; filaments free ; two anthers 2-celled, the 

 other 1-celled ; cells linear, straight, cohering ; connective 

 produced into a conical point. — Female : Calyx and corolla as 

 in male. Ovary ovoid, setulose, with 2-3 placentas ; style 

 short, insertedin an annular, fleshy, epigynous disk. Stami- 

 nodia 0. Fruit a small, smooth or bristly, globose, few-seeded 

 berry. Seeds oblong-oval, subcompressed, surrounded by a 

 broad or narrow rim, scrobiculate. — Fl. Cap. ii. p. 488. 



M. scabrella, Arn., a common annual plant of tropical Asia, occurs near 

 Natal. Stem climbing, with simple tendrils, and angled or lobed hairy 

 leaves. Flowers small, yellow ; the males tufted, females sohtary or ag- 

 gregated. 



Tribe 2. Zanonie^. 



13. GERRARDANTHUS, Harv. 



Flowers dioecious? — Male: Calyx small, rotate, 5-lobed. 

 Corolla rotate, 5-parted to the base ; lobes linear-oblong, 

 fleshy, 2 rather larger than the others. Stamens 4, and 1 

 sterile ; filaments separate ; anthers 1-celled, linear, cohering 

 in pairs. — Female : Calyx and corolla as in the male. Ovary 

 long, tapering at base, 3-cornered, with thick placentas and 

 several pendulous ovules on each placenta. Fruit a long, 

 funnel-shaped, nearly dry, at length membranous gourd, 3- 

 valved at top. Seeds many, flat, with a crustaceous testa, and 

 long membranous wing. 



G. megarUza, Dene, and Harv., the only species, grows in the Natal 

 colony. It has a large, placentiform, tuberous root, lying on the surface of 

 the soil, 3-4 feet diameter, 1-2 feet thick, shghtly acrid and bitter, and 

 used, as Mr. Gerrard informs me, " by the Kaffirs for various medicinal 

 purposes ; among others, they give it to heifers, after the first calf, to in- 

 crease the quantity of milk ; but it appears to deteriorate the quality, for, 

 it is said, that cows give no butter diu-ing the time they are taking the root." 

 Stem woody, tuberculated, very long, rising to the tops of the highest trees, 

 the branches hanging down in graceful, pendulous wreaths. All parts of 



