700 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL JUST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXL 



No. XL VIII.— A NOTE ON TRLCHOSANTIIJES BLOICA, ROXB. 



C. B. Clarke's description of the plant ( p. 609, Hk. F. B. I., Vol. II) 

 runs thus : — "T. clioica, Roxb. Fl. Lnd., Ill, 701 ; leaves cordate, oblong 

 acute, petiole scabrous woolly, male flowers not racemed, woolly without, 

 anthers free, Wall., Cat. 6692, A. B. D. 



Throughout the plain of North India, from the Panjaub to Assam and 

 Eastern Bengal ; common. 



Stems twining extensively, more or less woolly and scabrous Dioecious. 

 Leaves 3 by 2 in., harsh, sinuate dentate, not lobed ; petiole f in. ; tendrils 

 2-fid. Male peduncles paired, the second-flowering often 2 in., but not 

 racemed in any example at Kew. Calyx-tube If in., narrow. Fruit 2-3-| in., 

 oblong, or nearly spherical, acute, orange-red. Seeds |-| in., half 

 ellipsoid, compressed, corrugate on the margin." — United with Trichosart- 

 thes nervifolia, Linn., D. C. Prodr. iii, 314 by Bentham in Fl. Austral, iii, 

 315. " Roxburgh says ' Stamens three distinct ' which has been repeat- 

 edly verified in the living plant." 



Be it noted that T. nervifolia is figured by Rheede in Jlortus Malabaricus. 

 When in a former series of papers of mine under name '' The Poisonous 

 Plants of Bombay ", I published a description of T. cucumerina, Linn, which 

 is abundantly found in the Dekkan and Konkan, Lt.-Col. Peters said to 

 me that there was found in Eastern Bengal a plant under the name of 

 Patol which was edible. Its botanical name is Tricliosanthes dioica. 



In his letter to our Hon. Secretary, dated 10th November 1911, from 

 Dinajpur (E. Bengal) Lt.-Col. O. T. Peters writes the following interesting 

 note on Tricliosanthes dioica, Roxb. (Hindi, Pulwul ; Bengali, Patala) : — " The 

 gourd is used as an esculent vegetable and especially prized, as it is in 

 season when other vegetables, both European and Native, are scarce during 

 the rainy season. 



The difi"erent ways of preparing the vegetable in Bengal are : — (1) The 

 entire gourd is scraped and fried in butter or oil without removing the 

 seeds. (2) The entire gourd is scraped, cut in halves lengthwise and fried 

 with seeds. (3) The entire gourd is scraped, the seeds are removed by a 

 long incision and the inside is stufi"ed with minced meat and spices and 

 fried (4) The skin is peeled, the seeds are removed and the gourd is cut in 

 halves lengthwise or into smaller pieces and fried. (6) The skin is peeled, 

 the seeds are removed, and the gourd is cut into circular or semi-circular 

 pieces and fried. The gourd is precisely similar in shape and size to the 

 Bombay variety* which is, however, poisonous ; whereas this is a most 



* There is no Bombay variety of this plant as far as I know. Col. Peters' plant 

 now shown is strictly a native of Eastern Bengal and Assam. The poisonous plant 

 described by me is T. cucumerina (see in our Journal, Plate E., letter press Part iv, 

 of my Poisonous Plants of Bombay. 



