Trickosanthes.~\ Cuctirbitacece. 245 



stalked, solitary, cal.-tube nearly 2 in., very much produced 

 above ov., segm. longer than in male fl. ; fruit \\ in., ovoid, 

 shortly beaked, smooth, scarlet, pericarp thin ; seeds few with 

 very long stalks, ovoid, compressed, thickened at margins, 

 each enclosed in an envelope of scarlet pulp. 



Moist low country and lower montane zone ; rather common. Fl. 

 Jan.-July ; white. 



Also in Western India. 



3. T. cucumerina, L. Sp. PL 1008 (1753). I>umm611a, S. 

 Pudal. T. 



Moon Cat. 66. Thw. Enum. 126. C. P. 2806. 



Fl. B. Ind. ii. 609. Rheede, Hort. Malab. viii. t. 15. 



Annual, stems slender, glabrous or slightly hairy, tendrils 

 3-fid ; 1. 2-4 in. long and considerably broader, very cordate, 

 with an excavated sinus at base, more or less deeply pal- 

 mately 3- or 5- or 7-lobed usually about halfway down, lobes 

 rounded or subacute, distantly denticulate, glabrous or nearly 

 so above, more or less pubescent beneath, thin ; fl. often 

 monoecious, male in long-stalked racemes, female often in 

 same axil, solitary, shortly stalked ; male fl.: — cal.-tube about 

 1 in., dilated at top, segm. narrowly lanceolate, acute, spread- 

 ing, pet. f in., lanceolate-oblong, with a tuft of curled lacinise 

 at apex ; fern. fl. : — cal.-tube gradually dilated upwards, lower 

 part often hairy; fruit \\— 2 in., ovoid-fusiform, tapering at 

 both ends, with a long sharp beak, smooth, at first striped 

 with white, afterwards scarlet, pericarp thin ; seeds compressed, 

 surrounded with red pulp. 



Var. ft, laciniosa, Thw, I. c. C. P. 1620. 



L. deeply cut nearly to the base, segm. oblong, densely 

 pubescent beneath. 



Low country, common ; var. ft, especially in the dry region. Fl. 

 Sept. -December ; white. 



Also in India, Malaya, and N. Australia. 



Var. ft is connected with the type by intermediate forms. 



The plant is much used as a febrifuge medicine ; the bitter and pur- 

 gative fruit is also eaten after being cooked. 



T. imguitia, L., the ' Snake-gourd' of the English (Patola, S., Podivi- 

 langu, T.j is probably only a cultivated variety of the last. The long 

 fruit is variously twisted and contorted. It is well figured in Duthie, 

 Field and Garden Crops, t. 46, and is only known as a cultivated plant, 

 the fruit being a favourite vegetable. 



4. T. integ-rifolia, Thw. Enum. 127 (1859) non Kurz. [PLATE 

 XLII.] 



7. Ih-cuaitesii, Cogn. Mon. Phan. iii. 387. C. I'. 1629. 

 Fl. B. Ind. ii. 610. 



