Plants of the Punjab. 



617 



Climbing Plants with Alternate Exstipulatb Lobbd Leaves. 



Petals united. 



1 in., 3-cleft ; fruit 1^-2 in. diam., round, smooth, red 

 striped with yellow, seeds many, in green pulp. The f ait. 

 and roots are medicinal. 



Tricosanthes 

 eucumerina, 



Jangli chichinda. 

 Cucurbitace-e. 

 F. B. I. ii. 609. 

 The Plains. 



like the last species, but annual, stem twining, leaves 

 3 little smaller, almost kidney-shaped, stalks f in., fruit 

 ovoid-conical, streaked with white, then yellow, seeds 

 in red pulp, corrugated. The fruit is eaten as a vegetable 

 and the young shoots as a pot herb. 



Tricosanthes 

 anguina, 

 Snake gourd, 



Chichinda. 

 Cucurbitace^. 

 F. B. I. ii. 610. 

 The Plauas. 

 Cultivated. 



Herpetospermum 

 caudigerum, 



Cucurbitace^. 



F. B. I. ii. 613. 



Himalaya, 



5-8,000 ft., 



east of the Sutlej. 



Valleys below Simla 



(Collett). 



very hke the last species, but the fruit is long, 1-3 ft., 

 cylindrical narrow, sometimes contorted, m colour like 

 T. Cucumerina. The fruit is eaten as a vegetable. 



Benincasa cerifera, 



or hispida. 



White Gourd, Melon, 



Petha. 



Cucurbitace^. 

 F. B. I. ii. 616. 

 The Plains. 

 Cultivated. 



annual, velvet}-, tendrils •2«3-fid ; leaves 4-6 in. diam. 

 ovate, httle lobed, base notched, long-pointed, toothed, 

 stalk '2-4 m. ; flowers H-2 m. diam., yellow, male and 

 female flowers on different plants, male dowers racemed, 

 main stalk 8 in., minor stalk 1 in., no bracts, calyx tube 

 |-1 in. long, funnel-f.haped, lobes 5, linear, corolla 5-lobed, 

 almost to the base, lobes entire, stamens 3, short, anthers 

 joined, female flowers solitary, shortly stalked, calyx and 

 corolla as in the male, style | in., tip 3-cleft, stigmas 

 2-lobed ; capsule 3 by 1^ in., ovoid, narrowed to both 

 ends, openmg by 3 valves, triangular, seeds 12, h in. long, 

 flattened, minutely pointed at one end, something like 

 a beetle, embedded in fibrous, almost dry pulp. 



annual, softly hairy, stems stout, angular, tendrils 

 2-fid ; leaves 4-6 m. diam., kidney-shaped, round, base 

 notched, more or less deeply 5-lobed, stalks 3-4 in. with- 

 out glands ; flowers large, yellow, soHtary, without bracts- 

 male and female on the same plant, male flowers on stalks 

 3-4 in., calyx tube bell-shaped, lobes 5, leaf -like, toothed, 

 corolla 5-lobed, almost to the base, ovate with a broad 

 tip, stamens 3, almost on the mouth of the tube, anthers 

 free, protruding, female flowers calyx and corolla as in 



