GOURDS 61 



periodically at flower shows. The best appear to be V. 

 megaphylldy with large bip innate leaves, quite unlike the 

 ordinary run of Vines ; F. Thomsonii, which has digitate 

 leaves of a purple colour ; and F. armata, with prickly 

 stems. Other named Chinese species of Veitchian intro- 

 duction are V. Delavayi^ V. flexuosa y V. obtecta> V. serjana- 

 folia and F. armata Veitchii (see Plate XII). 



We owe to China a better knowledge of F. Thunbergii, 

 formerly confused with the American F. Labrusca. Its 

 foliage at the close of summer assumes rich colours crim- 

 son, green, and yellow ; and in the warmer parts of the 

 British Islands it is quite happy in the open air. In the 

 garden of Canon Ellacombe, Bitton, for example, it is a 

 striking object. At the same time it is not equal to F. 

 Coignetice, also Chinese, which in the nursery of Mr. A. 

 Waterer, Woking, is magnificent in autumn, when the 

 leaves are at their best. One has only to see it to realise 

 the value of the big-leaved species of Vitis as garden plants. 



CHAPTER XII 

 ORNAMENTAL GOURDS 



" THERE be divers gourds, some wild, others tame, for the 

 garden, some bearing fruit like unto a bottle ; others longer 

 and bigger at the end, keeping no certain fashion." Thus 

 Gerard, in his Herbal, modestly describes the family of the 

 Melon, Cucumber, Pumpkin, Loofah, Colocynth, Squash, 

 Calabash, and Choco. Economically considered, the Gourd 

 family is of great value to man as supplying food, medicine, 

 ornament, musical instruments, and domestic utensils. 



