398 LXiii. cucuRBiTACEyE. [Colocynthis 



DC.Monogr.Phan.iii.p.508(188"l); Ficalho, PI. Uteis, p. 190(1884). 

 Colocynthis Citrullus O. Kuntze, Rev. Gen. PI. i. p. 256 (1891). 



LoANDA. — A prostrate annual herb, scarcely glaucous ; branches very 

 long ; flowers monoecious, small, yellow ; fruit ellipsoidal, greenish, 

 variously spotted, half the size of an orange or as large as one, not 

 quite good in flavour. In sandy places and sandy clay among short 

 bushes, also in waste places, throughout the district, especially between 

 Camama and Catumba, abundant and indeed wild ; fl. and young fr. 

 July 1858. Also a form with acutely-lobed leaves, in the sandy desert 

 near Camama, at the beginning of Aug. 1858. No. 858. Fruit woolly 

 when young, nearly glabrous when ripe, eaten by the negroes. In 

 sandy places, cultivated or neglected, and in gravelly fields, along the 

 sea coast, not uncommon : Praia de Zamba grande, Maiango do Povo, 

 fl. and young fr. Feb. 1858 ; cultivated, Imbondeiro dos Lobos, 26 

 March 1858. Native name " N-xibua " or " Maxibua." No. 858&. 



PuxfiO Andongo. — An apparently annual herb ; stems running out 

 a long distance, tendrilled but scarcely scandent, indeed always 

 prostrate ; flowers yellow, apparently monoecious ; ripe fruit very like 

 that which the Portuguese call Melancia (water-melon). Nearly every- 

 where in sandy places along the banks of the rivers Cuanza and Cuije ; 

 near Quitage, fl. March 1857. A weak, hoary, narrow-leaved form or 

 variety. No. 857. Fruit oblong-cylindrical, li to 2 in. long, eaten by 

 the negroes. In fields between Condoand Quisonde, cultivated, March 

 1857. But little different from the European water-melon. Coll. 

 Carp. 153. 



MossAMEDES. — An annual prostrate herb, resembling the water- 

 melon in all parts : fruit in shape and size resembling a quince, but 

 sometimes much smaller and only li to 1^ in. in diameter, usually 

 scarcely larger than an orange, grass-green, variegated with white 

 spots arranged in broad longitudinal rows, 3-celled ; flesh bitter and 

 therefore scarcely touched by sheep ; seeds obovate, compressed but 

 rather tumid, chestnut-coloured or brown-yellow, marked on both 

 sides with black warts occasionally merging in lines. In sandy places 

 along the banks of the river Bero, abundant ; both young and ripe fr. 

 and few fl. beginning of July 1859 ; also in moist sandy places near 

 the mouth of the river Girau'l, at Fazenda do Senhor Paiva, frequently 

 cultivated. Also a wild luxuriant form, and a form in drier hilly 

 gravelly places. Called by the colonists " Melancia brava " (wild 

 water-melon). No. 855. At the banks of the river Bero ; fr. July 

 1859. Coll. Carp. 49. 



HuiLLA. — An annual herb, spreading diffusely far and widely or 

 extensively scandent ; pilose with white spreading hairs, scented almost 

 like musk ; leaves lobed-pinnatisect ; tendrils bifid ; flowers herma- 

 phrodite and male on the same plant, axillary, shortly pedunculate, 

 yellow, the hermaphrodite ones the larger ; fruit eaten by the negroes 

 but nearly always more or less bitter. In sandy, rather barren fields 

 and in more fertile places formerly cultivated, abundant almost 

 throughout the district; near Lopollo fl. and young fr. March and 

 5 May, 1860; also by the river in Sobato Humpata, at the end of 

 May 1860, specimens with the stem and petioles rather shaggy with 

 rufous hairs. No. 856- Fruit as large as a child's head, edible but 

 almost insipid. In places of cultivation and neglected gardens, but 

 scarcely cultivated ; seeds, April 1860. Native name, " Ditangue " or 

 " Mutangue." Coll. Carp. 47. Fruit eaten by sheep ; in gardens. 

 Called " Ditanga." Coll. Carp. 46. 



I 



