

Passi/lorea.] passiflore^e. . 123 



Albumen fleshy. Embryo straight. Eadicle next the hilum. Cotyledons 

 leafy. — Climbers, or rarely erect herbs or shrubs. Leaves alternate, entire or 

 divided, with stipules. Flowers hermaphrodite or unisexual. 



Besides Passiflora itself, the Order contains a few small genera dispersed over the tropical 

 regions of the Old as well as the New World. 



1. PASSIFLORA, Linn. 



Calyx-tube short. One or several rings of coloured filaments within the 

 petals. Stamens as many as the sepals, so united with the ovary-stalk as to 

 appear to be inserted at its summit. Styles 3, with large capitate stigmas. 

 Fruit succulent, indehiscent. — Climbers with axillary tendrils. Flowers 

 usually hermaphrodite. Sepals usually coloured inside as much as the petals. 

 A large genus, almost entirely American, with a very few somewhat anomalous species 

 from the Old World. 



1. P. foetida, Linn. ; DC. Prod. iii. 331 ; Bot. Reg. t. 321 ; But. Mag. 

 £.2619. A herbaceous climber, usually very hairy. Leaves stalked, cordate, 

 and mostly 3-lobed, 2 to 3 in. long, softly villous on both sides. Stipules 

 fringed with hair-like lobes, tipped with a small gland. Peduncles axillary, 

 1 to 2 in. long, bearing a single flower, closely surrounded and almost en- 

 closed in a moss-like involucre, consisting of 3 bracts very much divided into 

 hair-like glandular lobes. Petals pale purplish- white, spreading to about 2 

 in. diameter. 



Common about habitations, Wilford. A native of S. America, where it has a very wide 

 range, and introduced from thence it has become a village and roadside weed over a great part 

 of East India. 



Order XLV. CUCURBITACE^3. 



Flowers usually unisexual. Calyx superior (or adherent at the base and 

 produced above the ovary), usually campanulate, 5-toothed. Petals 5, or 

 united in a 5-lobed corolla, apparently continuous with the calyx-tube, with 

 the calyx-teeth at the base of the lobes. Male flowers : Stamens usually 

 5 or 3. Anthers usually linear and curved, forming a wavy line on the con- 

 nectivum. Female flowers : Ovary inferior, often 1 -celled when very young, 

 with 3 parietal placentas, which soon grow out so as to divide the ovary into 

 3 or 6 cells. Ovules many, or rarely 1 to each placenta. Fruit succulent, 

 indehiscent, or bursting irregularly. Seeds usually ovate and compressed, in 

 a juicy or membranous arillus. Albumen none. Embryo straight, with the 

 radicle next the hilum, and leafy cotyledons. — Climbers, usually herbaceous, 

 with lateral tendrils. Leaves alternate, palmately veined or lobed. 



A considerable Order, dispersed over all but the colder regions of the globe, but most 

 abundant in dry hot countries, especially in Africa. 

 Stamens inserted at the base of the calyx. 



Male flowers (very small) in racemes. Berries small, globular or oblong 1. Karivia. 



Male flowers solitary. Fruits large, globular 4. Citrullus. 



Stamens inserted near the petals. 



Connective of the anthers projecting beyond the cells. Fruit oblong, 



indehiscent 2. jEchmandra. 



Anther-cells sinuous, almost covering the connective. Fruit muricate, 



opening elastically 3. Momordica. 



