Homordica.'] LXV. CUCURBITACEJ;. (C. B. Clarke.) 617 



Wall, Cat. 6746 ; W. $ A. Prodr. 348 ; Sot. Mag. t. 2455 ; Miq. Fl. Ind. Bat. 

 i. pt. i. 663 ; Wight Ic. t. 504 ; Dalz. # Gibs. Bomb. Fl. 102 ; Naud. in Ann. So. 

 Nat. ser. 4, xii. 131 ; Kurz in Journ. As. Soc. 1877, pt. ii. 102. M. humilis, 

 Wall. Cat. 6747. M. muricata, DC. I.e.; Roxb. I.e.; Wall. Cat. 6745; Miq. 

 I. c. M. senegalensis, Lamk. ; DC. I. c. Cucumis africanus, Bot. Reg. t. 980. 

 Rheede Hort. Mai. viii. t. 9, 10. 



Throughout INDIA, cultivated. DISTRIB. Malaya, China, Tropical Africa. 



Leaves 1-3 in. diam., orbicular, glabrous or slightly pubescent, cut nearly to the 

 base into 5-7 narrow sinuate or subpinnatifid lobes. Male peduncle 2-4 in., slender, 

 bract. Calyx-lobes ovate, acute. Petals f-f in., yellow. Female peduncle 2-4 in., 

 slender, bracteate near the base ; ovary fusiform, muricate. Fruit 1-3 in., rostrate. 

 Seeds | in., compressed, corrugate on the margin, somewhat sculptured. 



2. IK. Balsamina, Linn. ; DC. Prodr. iii. 311; monoecious, bract very 

 near the top of the male peduncle orbicular denticulate variegated, fruit ovoid 

 narrowed to both ends smooth. Miq. Fl. Ind. Bat. i. pt. i. 664 ; Boiss. Fl. 

 Orient, ii. 757, excl. syn. Wight ; Hook. f. in Oliv. Fl. Trop. Afr. ii. 537, not 

 of Wallich, nor of W. $ A. Pi-odr. 349. 



PUNJAB ; T. Thomson, Edgeworth. NORTH- WEST INDIA ; Boyle. SCINDE ; Stocks. 

 DISTRIB. Malaya, Australia, Western Asia, Africa to the Cape. 



Glabrous or nearly so. Leaves 1^-3 in. diam., orbicular, palmately 3-5-lobed to 

 about the middle, lobes acutely lobulate, punctulate on both surfaces; petiole 

 f-1^ in. Male peduncle 1-3 in. ; calyx-lobes ovate or oblong, acute ; petals - |in., 

 yellowish, black at the base. Female peduncle short, less than ^ in., ebracteate. Fruit 

 1-3 in., rostrate, red, usually quite smooth, in the example of Edgeworth's obscurely 

 ribbed and slightly muricate. Seeds | in., compressed, nearly smooth. 



3. M. dioica, Roxb. FL Ind. iii. 709 : dioecious, petiole without glands, 

 bract near the top of the male peduncle, flowers large yellow, fruit densely 

 covered with soft spines. DC. Prodr. iii. 312; W. $ A. Prodr. 348; Wight 

 Ic. tt. 505, 506 ; Dene, in Jacq. Voy. Bot. t. 71 ; Dalz. # Gibs. Bomb. Fl. 102 ; 

 Naud. in Ann. Sc. Nat. ser. 4, xii. 133 ; Thwaites Enum. 126, as to var. a. ; 

 Kurz in Journ. As. Soc. 1877, pt. ii. 102. M. Balsamina, Wall. Cat. 6741 ; 

 W. 4- A. Prodr. 349, not of others. M. Wallichii, Roem. Sijnops. ii. 58 ; Miq. 

 FL Ind. Bat. i. pt. i. 664. M. renigera, Hamiltoniana, and Heyneana, WalL 

 Cat. 6743, 6744, 6748. M. Missionis, Wall. Cat. 6739 ; Dennst. in Miq. I. c. 

 M. subangulata, Blume ex Kurz in Journ. As. Soc. 1877, pt. ii. 102. Tricho- 

 santhes Kusseliana, Wall. Cat. 6696. Bryonia grandis, WalL Cat. 6700 L. 



Throughout INDIA, from the HIMALAYA to CEYLON and SINGAPORE, ascending to 

 5000 ft. alt. on the hills. DISTRIB. Malaya. 



Leaves 2-4 in. long and broad, cordate, ovate, acute, entire, denticulate or more or 

 less 3-5-lobed, glabrous, often punctate beneath; petiole 1-2 in. Male peduncle 

 2-6. in. ; bract large, cowl-like, embracing the expanded flower, glabrous, thin or 

 (in M. Missionis) thick soft pubescent ; calyx-lobes oblong with a narrow termination 

 petals 1 in., full-yellow, the two 2-anthered filaments 2-fid half way down. Female 

 peduncles as long as the male, bract small usually near the base. Fruit 1-3 in., 

 ellipsoid, acute, without ribs. Seeds nearly | in., many, compressed, broad-oblong, 

 with a few well-marked corrugations on the margins, nearly smooth on the surface. 

 The large succulent Lower Bengal form cannot well be confounded with any other ; 

 but both from the Deccan Peninsula and Punjab there is a much slenderer form, the 

 males of which have been referred to M. Balsamina (the intense spinousness of the 

 young ovary prevents the female plants being mistaken): they usually have the 

 leaves much less dissected, and M. Balsamina almost invariably exhibits both male 

 and female flowers on the same branch. M. Missionis, Wall., is the slender form 



