THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY. 



By Surgeon-Major K. R. Kirtikar, f.l.s., 



PART IV. 



( With Plates E and F.) 



TRICHOSANTHES CUCUMERINA {Linn.). 



Marathi— ^f"T¥^o5; ^RT^^S?. 



(Natural Order — Cucurbitace^.) 



Synonyms: — T. lancinosa. 



T. pilosa. 



Bryonia umbellata. 

 Cucumis Missionis. 



The plant is a scandentherb, more or less pubescent; annual, strictly 

 of the rainy season. Has a faint disagreeable odour. Dioecious; or 

 "less often (? when cultivated) monoecious": — Clarke {Hooker's 

 Flor. Br. Ltd.) 



Root. — Somewhat tuberous, lying deep in the ground; slightly 

 woody, fibrous ; whitish in colour. 



Stem. — Herbaceous, with a few woody fibres, pentangular, striate, 

 watery ; having a tendency to the formation of twisted irregular 

 nodules. 



Leaves. — 3-6 inches long; 2-4 inches at base; ovate-cordate; 

 slightly lobate; lobes five, not distinctly marked; margin broad and 

 deeply curved at the base, serrate throughout ; acuminate. Deep 

 green; faintly cream-coloured here and there; puberulous. Tendrils 

 wavy, finely spiral, bifid usually ; sometimes trifid or undivided ; 

 sometimes displaced by irregular nodes. Venation of leaves strikingly 

 whitish ; nerves prominent on the under surface. Petiole, slender, 2-4 

 inches long ; grooved, often deeply ; wavy. 



Flowers. — Buds oblong-rotund. Male flowers. — Peduncles in 

 pairs; often in racemes with short pedicels at the ajpex of long 

 peduncles. Size of flowers, small ; colour white ; petals five, fringed 

 with delicate fibrils ; star-shaped, with parallel nerves ; crisped and 

 contorted. Bracts, large. Calyx, 5-sepalled, 1 inch long, tubular ; 

 sepals very narrow, green, cuspidate. Stamens, 3, short, greenish, 



