Herpetosjpermum^ LXV. CUCURBITACEJE. (C. B. Clarke.) 613 



fe_ 



HERPETOSFERIVIUB1, Wall. 



drils -2- :>-fid. Leaves long-petioled, cordate, ovate, 

 little lobed. #V< >w, dioecious ; males frequently two peduncles 



from one axil, One early deciduous 1- flowered the other racemose without 

 "bracts ; females solitary on very short peduncles. MALE : calyx-tube elongate, 

 cylindric at the base, above nawfO^ AfflWIbBh.aped ; teeth 5, long, linear ; petals 

 5, elliptic, nearly separate, enti -us 3; anthers connate, included, one 



1-celled, two 2-celled, cells conduplicate. FEMALE : calyx and corolla as in the 

 male; ovary oblong-, 3-celled, style long, with three oblong bifid stigmatic 

 lobes ; ovules pendulous, 4-6 iuaieach cell. Fruit broad-oblong, narrowed at 

 both ends, 3-angular, irregularlyMnuate-costate, valves 3 separating from the 

 axis nearly to the base. Seeds in two rows in each cell, flat, oblong, pendulous, 

 the lower end corrugate or almost 3-lobed. 



1. H. caudig-erum, Wall. Cat. 6761. Bryonia ? pedunculosa, Seringe 

 in DC. Prodr. iii. 306. Rampinia herpetospermoides, C. JB. Clarke in Journ. 

 Linn. Soc. xv. 130. 



TEMPERATE HIMALAYA, from SIMLA and KUMAON to BHOTAN, alt. 5000-8000 ft. ; 

 very common in Sikkim. KHASIA MTS. ; Wallich. 



Stem and peduncles more or less pubescent. Leaves 4-.6 in. long and broad, usu- 

 ally pubescent on both surfaces, serrate, acuminate; petiole 2-4 in. Male peduncle 

 8 in., pedicels 1 in., hairy. Calyx-tube 1 in., pubescent without. Petals often 1 in. 

 Eudiment of the ovary in the male linear, simple. Fruit 3 by l in., more or less 

 pubescent. Seeds usually 12 sometimes 18, by \ and in., thick, often exhibiting 

 (when dried) wavy marks on the surface, packed in a fibrous almost juiceless pulp. 

 "Wallich's Khasia specimen exhibits ripe seeds which are very narrow, incised at the 

 lower end so that the middle lobe appears as a spinous tooth. Lady Dalhousie's 

 examples collected at Simla are nearly glabrous with smaller flowers. Herpetosper- 

 mum of Bth. $ Hk. f. Gen. PL i. 834, described from imperfect materials, includes 

 H. caudigemm, Warea tonglensis and Edgaria darjeelingensis. The generic character 

 did not fit Warea or Ed,garia and required emendation as to the ovules and seeds 

 of Wallich's Herpetospermum. 



6. LA GEN ARIA, 



Large climbers, pubescent, tendrils 2-fid. Leaves ovate or orbicular, cordate, 

 dentate ; petiole long, with two glands at its apex. Flowers large, white, soli- 

 tary, monoecious or dioecious, the males long- the females short-ped uncled. 

 MALE : ' calyx-tube funnel-shaped subcampanulate, teeth 5 narrow ; petals 5, 

 free, obovate ; stamens 3 ; anthers connate, included, one 1-celled, two 2-celled, 

 cells conduplicate ; rudiment of ovary 0. FEMALE : calyx and corolla as in the 

 male ; ovary oblong, style short with 3 bifid stigmatic lobes ; ovules many, 

 horizontal ; placentas 3, vertical. Fruit large, ultimately thick membranous or 

 almost woody, indehiscent, polymorphous, usually broader upwards. Seeds 

 very many, horizontal, compressed, with a marginal groove, smooth. 



1. Ii. vulg-aris, Seringe in DC. Prodr. iii; 299; W. $ A. Prodr. 341 ; 

 Wight III. t. 105* ; Kurz in Journ. As. Soc. 1877, pt. ii. 100. L. vittata, 

 hispida and idolatrica, Seringe I. c. 299. Oucurbita Lagenaria, Linn. ; Larnk. 

 III. t. 795 ; Eoxb. Fl. Ind. iii. 718 ; Wall. Cat. 6719,Hheede Hart. MoL 

 viii. t. 5. 



