Tetrameles.'] DATISCACEAE. 543 



ZANONIA INDICA, Linn. ; F. B. I. ii. 633 ; W. & A. 340 ; Wt. 



111., t. 103 (but not monoecious). 



W. Ghats, in the Bababudan Hills of Malabar. 



A stout climbing shrub with large ovate-cordate leaves and 



winged seeds. 



Lag en aria vulgaris, Ser., is the Bottle Gourd, cultivated for 

 its fruit, which has various shapes and is eaten when young, and 

 when old and the shell has dried used for bottles and to make 

 musical instruments. Yern. Hind. Kaddu. 



Benincasa cerifera, Savi, is the White Gourd Melon, occasionally 

 cultivated for its fruit, which is large and fleshy and covered with 

 a waxy bloom. The seeds, which ar compressed and marginate, 

 yield an oil. Yern. Hind. Gol kaddu. 



Cucurbita maxima, Duch., the Squash-Gourd, C. Pepo, DC., 

 the Pumpkin, C. ovifera, Linn, the Yegetable Marrow, and 

 C. moschata, Duch., the Musk Melon, are all large-fruited large 

 climbing or trailing herbs cultivated for thoir fruits. 



Family LXXIY. DATISCACEAE. 



Trees or herbs. Leaves petioled, simple or pinnate, alternate ; 

 stipules 0. Flowers small, regular, dioecious or rarely bisexual, 

 in fascicles racemes or panicles. Calyx-tuhe in short ; in $ 

 adnate to the ovary ; lobes 3-9. Petals 0. Stamens 4 or more, 

 usually opposite the calyx-lobes ; filaments short ; anthers 2- 

 celled, in $ if present reduced to staminodes. Ovary 1-celled, 

 open or closed at the apex ; placentas parietal ; ovules numerous, 

 ascending or horizontal ; styles as many as the placentas and 

 alternate with them, simple or 2-partite. Fruit a coriaceous or 

 membranous capsule, dehiscing at the apex between the styles. 

 Seeds very many, minute ; albumen scanty ; embryo straight. 



Tetrameles, E. Br. 



Large tree. Leaves deciduous, ovate, acuminate, pubescent 

 beneath. Flowers dioecious, appearing before the leaves ; <$ in 

 panicles, ? in racemes, clustered near the ends of the branches. 

 Calyx-tube in very short, in ? connate with the ovary ; lobes 

 4. Stamens 4, opposite the calyx-lobes, inserted round a flat 

 central disk. Ovary inferior, 1-celled; ovules numerous on 4 

 parietal placentas; styles 4, subulate; stigmas club-shaped. 



