244 CuCU rb itaceCE. [ Trichosanthes. 



i. T. palmata, Roxb. Fl. Ittd. iii. 704 (1832). Titta-hondala, .fT. 

 Bryonia palmata, Moon Cat. 67. Thw. Enum. 127. T. bracteata, 

 Voight, Cogn. Mon. 375. C. P. 1626. 



Fl. B. Ind. ii. 606. Wight, 111. tt. 104, 105. 



Stems long, woody below, wide-climbing, angular, slightly- 

 scabrous, tendrils 3- or 2-fid ; 1. 4-5 in. and about equally- 

 wide, variable, more or less deeply palmately 3- or 5-lobed, 

 lobes acute, more or less dentate-serrate, glabrous, often 

 scabrous with small scales above and on the veins beneath, 

 petiole about 1 in., scaly-scabrous ; racemes of male fl. 6-9 in., 

 drooping, fl. large, over 2 in., nearly sessile, distant, each in 

 the axil of a very large broadly wedge-shaped, glabrous or 

 pubescent, lacerate, persistent bract I in. or more long, often 

 set with broad flat glands ; cal.-segm. leafy, laciniate, pet. 

 rather longer than cal.-segm., 1 in., wedge-shaped, with many 

 and long filiform laciniae ; fern. fl. shortly stalked ; cal.-tube 

 nearly 2 in., segm. acuminate, pet. shorter and narrower than 

 in male, style long; fruit large, 2^-2| in., globose with a blunt 

 nipple, smooth, brilliant scarlet-crimson, pericarp thick; seeds 

 densely packed, about \ in., oblong, compressed, smooth, 

 brownish-grey, each enveloped in dark-green pulp. 



Var. /3, tomentosa, Heyne ex Fl. B. Ind. I. c. 



L. divided less than half way down, tomentose beneath. 



Low country ; rather common, especially in dry region. Var. (3, rare. 

 Peradeniya. Fl. Feb. -June ; bright pink. 



Throughout the Eastern Tropics. 



The large scarlet fruits are very conspicuous and ornamental. The 

 pounded fruit is employed as an application to ulcers. 



Cogniaux (Mon. Phan. iii. 376) quotes C. P. 1302 for this, which is a 

 Fern. 



2. T. nervifolia, L. Sp. PI. 1008 (1753). 



T. caudata, Willd., Moon Cat. 66. Thw. Enum. 127. C. P. 1608. 

 Fl. B. Ind. ii. 609. Rheede, Hort. Malab. viii. tt. 16 (fem.) and 17 

 (male). 



A large perennial, stems somewhat woody below, flexible, 

 thickened at nodes, much branched, branches slender, striate, 

 glabrous, tendrils bifid ; 1. 2^-3^ in., ovate-lanceolate, cordate 

 or rarely lobed at base, very acute, mucronate, distantly 

 denticulate, glabrous, dark green, paler beneath with promi- 

 nent reticulate venation, petiole |-i in.; male fl. on short 

 ped., 4-12 in pedunculate corymbose racemes, bracts small, 

 caducous ; cal.-tube f~i|- in., very narrow, inflated above, 

 segm. minute, setaceous, pet. oblong, acuminate, with the fim- 

 briae much branched and very long at end of pet. but shorter 

 pn the sides, doubled inwards in the bud ; fem. fl. shortly 



