PLANTS CULTIVATED FOR THEIR FRUITS. 265 



times spoilt. Naudin ^ ascertained by experiments that 

 this fertilization is not possible, and has also shown that 

 the distinction of the two species is well founded. 



The original country of Oncumis sativus was un- 

 known to Linngeus and Lamarck. In 1805, Wildenow* 

 asserted it was indigenous in Tartary and India, but 

 without furnishing any proof Later botanists have not 

 conhrmed the assertion. When I went into the question 

 in 1855, the species had not been anywhere found wild. 

 For various reasons deduced from its ancient culture in 

 Asia and in Europe, and especially from the existence of 

 a Sanskrit name, soukasa,^ I said, " Its original habitat is 

 probabl}^ the north-west of India, for instance Cabul, or 

 some adjacent country. Everything seems to show that 

 it will one day be discovered in these regions which are 

 as yet but little knoAvn." 



This conjecture has been realized if we admit, with 

 the best-informed modern authors, that Cvxumis Hard- 

 ivickii, Royle, possesses the characteristics of Cucumis 

 sativus. A coloured illustration of this cucumber found 

 at the foot of the Himalayas may be seen in Royle's 

 Illustrations of Himalayan Plants, p. 220, pi. 47. The 

 stems, leaves, and flowers are exactly those of C. sativus. 

 The fruit, smooth and elliptical, has a bitter taste ; but 

 there are similar forms of the cultivated cucumber, and 

 we know that in other species of the same family, the 

 water-melon, for instance, the pulp is sweet or bitter. 

 Sir Joseph Hooker, after describing the remarkable 

 variety which he calls the Sikkim cucumber,* adds 

 that the variety Hardivickii, wild from Kumaon to 

 Sikkim, and of which he has gathered specimens, does 

 not differ more from the cultivated plant than certain 

 varieties of the latter differ from others ; and Cogniaux, 

 after seeing the plants in the herbarium at Kew, adopts 

 this opinion.^ 



The cucumber, cultivated in India for at least three 



* Nandin, in Ann. Sc. Nat., 4tli series, vol. xi. p. 31. 



• Wildenow, Species, iv. p. 615. ' Piddington, Inde9% 



* Bot. Mag., pi. 6206. 



• Cogniatix, in de Candolle, Monogr. Phaner., iii. p. 499. 



