Plants of the Punjab. 



615 



Climbing Plants with Alternate Exstipulate Lobed Leaves. 



Petals ununited. 



on a stalk 1-3 in. long, calyx tube projecting above the 

 ovary, lobes and petals as in the male, stigma 3-lobed ; 

 fruit 5-12 in. long, club-shaped, smooth, slightly lO-ribbed, 

 seeds | in. long, many, narrowly winged, usually black, 

 smooth or slightly knobby. Cultivated for its young 

 fruit which is eaten as a vegetable : the dry fruit consists 

 of a net work of fibres and is used as a flesh brush. 



Luffa acutangula, 



Kali tori. 

 Cucurbitacb^. 

 F. B. I. ii. 615. 

 The Plains to 

 8,000 ft. 



very Hke the last species, but stamens 3, fruit smaller, 

 sharply 10-angled. The young fruit is eaten like the last 

 species. 



Cucumis trigonus, 



Bisluinblii, 

 indrayan. 

 Cucurbitaceje. 

 F. B. I. ii. 619. 

 The Plains to 

 3,000 ft. 

 Baluchistan 

 (Fr^re). 



root perennial, stems annual, rough, tendrils short, 

 unbianched ; leaves »l--2 in., palmately 3-7-lobed, or 5- 

 angled, toothed, stalks |-1| in. ; flowers | in. diam., small, 

 yellow, males and females on the same plant, males clus- 

 tered in the axils, females soHtary, all shortly stalked, 

 stalks |-1 in., in male flowers calyx tube top-shaped, or 

 bell-shaped, lobes 5, petals 5, stamens 3, anthers free, in 

 female flowers calyx and petals as in the male, style short, 

 stigmas 3, blunt ; fruit 1| in. long, ovoid, or slightly 3- 

 angled, 3-striped or 10-striped. The fruit is sold as a 

 drug and used as a purgative like Colocj'^nth. 



Cucumis 

 prophetarum, 



CuCUEBITACEiE. 



F. B, I. ii. 619. 

 The Plains in the 

 south of the Punjab. 

 Baluchistan 

 (C. B. Clarke). 



Cucumis Melo, 

 The Melon, 



Kharhnza. 

 Cucurbitace^. 

 F. B. I. ii. 620. 

 The Plains to 

 2,000 ft. 

 Cultivated. 



like the last species, but stems whitish, leaves 

 lobed, smaller, fruit smaller, 1 in. long, green with 

 white stripes and soft bristles. 



^bi B^ 



3-5- 

 pale 



like Cucumis trigonus, but leaves larger, 3 in. diam., 

 male flowers in clusters, fruit lound, ovoid, iong, or twisted. 

 Two varieties are much cultivated — C. utilissimus, Kakri, 

 the fruit is oval to naircwly cylindrical and twisted to 3 

 ft. long, eaten raw and cooked, the seeds are pounded and 

 eaten as meal. C. Momordica, Tuii, fliunly fruit 1-2 ft. 

 long, 3-6 in. diam., weighs 4-8 lbs., is co<^ked as a vegetable 

 when young. 



