Trichosanthes.'] LXV. CUCURBITACEJE. (C. B. Clarke.) 607 



Sat. i. pt. i. 679. T. cordate, Wall. Cat. 6686 excl A and B. T. anguina, 

 Wall Cat. 6687 F partly. T. braeteata, Kurz in Journ. As. Soc. 1877, pt. ii. 99. 

 Oucurbita Melopepo, Wall Cat. 6725. Involucraria Wallichii, Seringe in DC. 

 Prodr. iii. 318. Bryonia palmata, Wall. Cat. 6711 F. 



From the HIMALAYAS to CEYLON and SINGAPORE; very common in all moist 

 thickets, ascending to 5000 ft. DISTRIB. Malaya, China, Japan, North Australia. 



Climbing often 30 ft. Dioecious so far as all the examples go, but Roxburgh has 

 placed it in Monoecia without remark. Leaves 2-6 in. diam., not at all hairy beneath, 

 usually glabrous or less commonly scabrous on the nerves, often with several large 

 glands near the apex of the petiole, cordate at the base ; segments dentate, serrate, 

 divaricate, sometimes subpinnatifid (var. incisa Heyne), usually acute (but obtuse in 

 var. sinuata, Heyne) ; petiole 1-3 in. Tendrils commonly 3-fid. Male peduncles 

 usually paired, the racemed one 6 in., naked below ; bracts ovate or obovate, glabrous 

 or viscid with scattered glands or pubescent. Calyx-tube 1^ in., closely tomentose or 

 glabrous ; sometimes much larger in the Sikkim examples ; teeth long-lanceolate, 

 sometimes dentate serrate or subpinnatifid. Fruit J-2 in. diam., not acute, bright 

 red with 10 orange streaks. Seeds very many, immersed in green pulp. The ex- 

 treme forms of the leaves are var. laciniosa, Wight, which has the leaves palmate 

 nearly to the base, the segments scarcely \ in. wide and sometimes subpinnatifid ; 

 and var. Thomsoni from Moradabad with the leaves entire and slightly 5-angular : in 

 both the leaves are coriaceous and with their petioles more or less covered with 

 scattered round white minute flat scales The Himalayan specimens recede further 

 by their large subsucculent flaccid leaves and very large flowers. 



VAR. Scotanthus, C. B. Clarke ; calyx-teeth broad-lanceolate entire, petals nearly 

 destitute of fimbriations especially in the female. 



VAR. tomentosa, Heyne in Herb. Rottler ; leaves tomentose beneath divided not 

 more than half-way down. Deccan Peninsula Mts. ; Wight No. 1134, 1136 partly; 

 G. Thomson. Ceylon, alt. 2600 ft. ; Gardner. This looks like a good species but 

 the fruit and seeds are as in var. 1. This closely resembles the Australian T. 

 subvelutina Muell, in Herb, referred to T. palmata by Bentham. The distribution of 

 T. palmata is extended to Japan on the faith of two examples collected by Max 

 mowicz. They belong to the commonest Bengal type of T. palmata, but bear tu 

 name T. japonica, Regel, which in Ecgel Ind. Sem. 1868, p. 90, is said to have 

 solitary male flowers, and has been referred by authors to the neighbourhood of T. 

 cucumerina. A Trichosanthes collected in Mergui by Griffith No. 759 (No. 2532 Kew 

 Distrib.) has the leaves with short hairs beneath ; otherwise resembles the var. 

 tomentosa. 



2. T. multiloba, Miq. Ann. Mus. Lugd. Bat. ii. 82 ; leaves deeply (only 

 half-way down) palmate in 5 or 3-9 lobes narrowed near their base, bracts 

 ovate or obovate deeply serrate, fruit 2-4 in. ovoid or oblong acute, seeds |-| 

 in. more or less angular on the margins. T. grandibracteata, Kurz in Journ. 

 As. Soc. 1877, pt. ii. 99 ex descr. 



SUCKIM, East Himalaya and KHASIA MTS. ; alt. 2000-6000 ft. ; plentiful. MA- 

 LACCA? Maingay 671. DISTRIB. China?. Bhamo. Japan. 



Rambling extensively. Dioecious. Leaves 3-6 in. diam., usually glabrous beneath 

 or less commonly scabrous with scattered bristles, subcordate at the base ; segments 

 serrate (sometimes lobed), ascending, less divaricate than in T. palmata, acute ; 

 petiole 1-3 in., often with several large glands near the apex ; tendrils commonly 

 3-fid. Male peduncles usually paired, the racemed one 6 in., naked below. Calyx- 

 tube \- c l\ in. ; teeth lanceolate-subulate, entire. Fruit bright red with orange streaks. 

 Seeds very many in green pulp. This is perhaps a variety of T. palmata, the Hima- 

 layan large form of which it so closely resembles, that in the absence of the fruit it 

 cannot always be distinguished from it. The locality " China " is added on the faith 

 of Hance's No. 13,745 marked T. palmata Eoxb. which it may be, as it does not ex- 

 hibit fruit nor does Maingay 's Malacca example. 



