616 LXV. CUCURBITACE^. (C. B. Clarke.) \Luffa. 



5. Xi. Kleinii, W. $ A. Prodr. 344 ; young fruit spinous, spines densely 

 woolly. L. umbellata, Roem. Synops. ii. 63. Cucurbita umbellata, Heyne in 

 'Herb. Rottler; Wall. Cat. 6724; DC. Prodr. iii. 318. 



TRAVANCORE ; Klein. COROMANDEL (?) Wight. 



Agrees closely with L. echinata and may be a variety of it, bilt the stamens 

 differ ; the filaments being three, of which two are bifid below thejanthers. 



4r 



8. BENINCASA, Savi. 



A large climber, softly hairy, tendrils 2-fid. Leaves cordate, reniform- 

 orbicular, more or less 5-lobed; petiole without glands. Flowers large, yellow, 

 monoecious, all solitary, without bracts. MALE : calyx-tube campanulate, 

 lobes 5, leaf-like, serrate ; petals 5, nearly separate, obovate ; stamens 3, in- 

 serted near the mouth of the tube ; anthers exsert, free, one 1-celled, two 

 2-celled, cells sigmoid. FEMALE : calyx and corolla as in the male ; ovary 

 oblong, densely hairy ; style thick, with 3 flexuose stigmas ; ovules numerous, 

 horizontal ; placentas 3. Fruit large, fleshy, oblong, pubescent, indehiscent. 

 Seeds many, oblong, compressed, margined. 



1. B. cerifera, Sam; DC. Prodr. iii. 303 ; W. 8f A. Prodr. 344 ; Miq. 

 Fl. Ind. Sat. i. pt. i. 665 ; Naud. in Ann. Sc. Nat. ser. 4, xii. 87 ; Kurz in 

 Journ. As. Soc. 1877, pt. ii. 101. Cucurbita Pepo, Lour. Fl Cochinc. 593 ; 

 Roxb. Fl. Ind. iii. 718. C. hispida, Wall. Cat. 6723. C. farinosa, Slume 

 Bijd. 931. Gymnopetalum ? calyculatum, Miq. Fl. Ind. Bat. Suppl. 332. 

 Rheede Hort. Mai. viii. t. 3. 



Throughout INDIA cultivated. DISTRIB. Cultivated in Malaya, China, Japan, 

 Tropical Africa ; where wild uncertain. 



Leaves 4-6 in. diam. ; petiole 3-4 in. Male peduncle 3-4 in., female peduncle 

 1-2 in. Calyx-teeth when young often narrow, scarcely serrate. Fruit 1-1 i ft., 

 cylindric, without ribs, hairy, ultimately covered with a waxy bloom. Seeds % by 



9. XKOBKORDXCA, Linn. 



Climbing, with, simple tendrils. Leaves cordate, petioled, undivided in the 

 Indian species. Flowers yellow or white, monoecious or dioecious, females soli- 

 tary peduncled, males solitary or racemed, bracteate or not. MALE : calyx-tube 

 short, campanulate (with 2-3 basal oblong incurved scales ex Hook, f.) lobes 5 ; 

 corolla 5-partite nearly to the base ; stamens 3 (2 in M. Cymbalarid) ; filaments 

 short; anthers at length free, one 1-celled, one or two 2-celled, cells con- 

 duplicate, or in M. Cymbalaria horse-shoe-shaped. FEMALE : calyx and corolla 

 as in the male; ovary oblong; style long, stigmas 3; ovules very many, hori- 

 zontal placentas 3. Fruit oblong or spherical, rough or smooth, indehis- 

 cent or 3-valved, many- or few-seeded. Seeds obovate or complanate, smooth 

 corrugate or sculptured. DISTRIB. Species 26, chiefly in the warmer parts of 

 Africa, several in Tropical Asia, few in Tropical America. The genus is here 

 artificially separated from Luffa by its simple tendrils. 



* Male peduncles \-flowered. 



1. UK. Charantia, Linn. ; DC. Prodr. iii. 311 ; monoecious, bract about 

 the middle of the male peduncle orbicular entire, fruit ovoid narrowed to both 

 ends many-ribbed covered with triangular tubercles. Roxb. Fl. Ind. iii. 707 j 



